The ostensible tension between competition and cooperation in ports: a case study on intra-port competition and inter-organizational relations in the Rotterdam container handling sector

H Geerlings,R B Castelein,J H R Van Duin

doi:10.1186/s41072-019-0046-5

H Geerlings, R B Castelein + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41072-019-0046-5

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Abstract

Strategic alliances in the container shipping sector, and requirements imposed by consolidated hinterland modalities such as trains and barges, have resulted in container terminals facing increasing pressures to cooperate to handle increasingly intertwined container flows. However, concession agreements and market conditions often also pressure terminals to compete. This paper aims to help understand how pressures for competition and cooperation conflict, what problems this causes, what drives these tensions, and how these can be resolved.The drivers of port competitiveness are generally conceptualized as straightforward criteria related to costs, efficiency, location, and infrastructure. Because of the focus on these ‘hard’, quantifiable factors, the qualitative relational underpinnings of port performance are often overlooked. This paper explores how inter-organizational relations function as a major underpinning of port performance and competitiveness. Interviews with a representative selection of stakeholders in the Port of Rotterdam reveal the problems that can occur when cooperation between terminals is under pressure. These problems relate to deficiencies in inter-organizational relationships, which do not tend to arise spontaneously in a competitive context. This paper provides a framework that helps understand how firms can simultaneously balance pressures for competition and imperatives for cross-firm integration and cooperation. Several technical and organizational solutions are suggested, but effective implementation depends on various tacit factors – including trust, shared values, and a sense of community – that determine stakeholders’ willingness to commit and cooperate.

Highlights

In Western Europe there is traditionally strong competition between several major neighboring ports, in particular Antwerp, Rotterdam, and the German ports Hamburg and Bremerhaven
The study shows that for port performance, it rather matters in which logistics functions lacking cooperation due to competitive pressures leads to problems
Logistical problems resulting from deficient coordination between competing terminals in a port area are a persistent problem for container ports, and our study findings provide new insights that can help policymakers and managers understand and resolve these issues

Summary

Introduction

In Western Europe there is traditionally strong competition between several major neighboring ports, in particular Antwerp, Rotterdam, and the German ports Hamburg and Bremerhaven. This competition is generally recognized, but within container ports themselves, there are competitive dynamics that may in turn affect port performance and competitiveness. Container port competitiveness is generally conceptualized as driven by straightforward criteria, such as port costs, handling efficiency, hinterland connectivity, and the quality of infrastructure and services (Parola et al 2017). Port performance itself – as evidenced by conventional measures such as efficiency and throughput growth – critically depends on the way in which port actors relate and interact in the logistics processes taking place within a port

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