European Container Ports Research Articles

Mobility in European container port rankings

This paper investigates changes in European container port rankings, in order to determine if and how a new dynamic phase can follow a phase of maturity in a container port range. We examine mobility in ranking during 2000–2019 and shed light on the influence of neighbouring ports in a range as well as the level of maturity of each range. Findings from three different methods (Gini coefficient and the Lorenz curve; Markov chains; Spatial Markov Chains) show that, overall, there is a low probability for ports to change status and to enter into a new dynamic phase. Our results confirm that path dependence plays an important role in port systems, with very low inter-class mobility. When mobility occurs, it is mostly for small and medium ports, and this mobility is higher when ports are surrounded by large ports. These results suggest that competition with existing larger ports can be good for the port system rather than allowing traffic to concentrate in a small number of ports. Finally, mature port ranges can enter a renewed dynamic phase, as smaller ports seek either to compete for market share or alternatively seek mergers with large ports where competition possibilities are absent.

Impact of Seaport Competition on Technical Efficiency: Simar–Wilson Analysis of European Container Ports

This paper examines the effects of environmental factors (port-city GDP, population size, connectivity to hinterland, draught level and distance from the closest port Hub) and competition on the efficiency of a number of North and South European seaports. For this purpose, a bootstrap data envelopment analysis truncated regression approach was applied to 35 container ports, in the 2004 - 2018 period. Research findings indicate that the connectivity of a port’s country and draught level have a positive impact on the efficiency of both Northern and Southern European seaports. In addition, our results revealed that the efficiency of Southern European seaports tends to increase with competition intensity, whereas that of Northern European seaports seems to decrease with intensified competition, due to investment discrepancies, necessary for attracting a wider range of customers.

Structures of port connectivity, competition, and shipping networks in Europe

In this study, we use service-based centrality measures to evaluate 29 major European ports' centrality levels and apply them to both the China-connection and intra-Europe networks. The largest European container ports are primarily centrally positioned in the China-connection network, but relatively weak in the intra-network unless capacities are considered. An important insight into the impacts of Chinese influence has been revealed by Piraeus: its strikingly high ranking with closeness centrality in the China-Europe network and in all the three indices in the intra-Europe network suggest the strong influence of Chinese presence. However, its “normal” degree and betweenness measures in the China-Europe network, ranking below the first tier ports, indicates that the impacts are not comprehensive enough to fundamentally shift the established China-Europe shipping system. The major ports along the Hamburg-Le Havre range remain as hubs within the intercontinental shipping networks, with Piraeus rapidly catching up. The influences of relationships with the liners and even countries are not just revealed by Piraeus, but also by Hamburg, which has obtained high ranking in the China-connection network due to its strong bonds with Chinese trade. Finally, we illustrate that port centrality comparisons must be made with a clearly defined network, as their positions within different networks can be very different.

Evaluation of the European container ports using a new hybrid fuzzy LBWA-CoCoSo'B techniques

Reducing transportation costs is one of today's global supply chains' essential tasks. For this purpose, as the crucial players of the worldwide supply chains, the international container shipping companies try to find optimal ways to reduce the shipping costs. Unnecessary transhipment and displacement operations are the leading causes of high logistics and transport costs. Selecting the most appropriate container seaport is one of the most effective ways to minimize these costs. The proper container port choice can provide an optimum container shipping system consisting of productive, efficient, and less costly container lines. Besides, a methodological framework is needed to address these kinds of highly complex decision-making issues. To serve this purpose, this paper proposes a fuzzy integrated MCDM approach consisting of the Fuzzy LBWA and fuzzy CoCoSo'B techniques. The consistency and stability of the model applied to evaluate the European container ports have been approved by a comprehensive sensitivity analysis. When the obtained results are evaluated, While C5 “Port Costs” has been determined as the most influential criterion, A2 “Port of Antwerp” (2.034) is the best and A10 “Port of Barcelona” (1.266) is the worst alternative. The obtained results were validated by comparing the results of the implemented popular MCDM frameworks with the help of Spearman Correlation Coefficient (SCC) [(SCC (MABAC) = 1.00; SCC (MAIRCA) = 1.00 and SCC (CoCoSo) = 0.915]. All SCC values have over 0.80 that can be accepted high correlation coefficient. The analysis results prove that the proposed fuzzy technique can be implemented to solve the highly complex decision-making problems faced in the maritime industry.

Research on European Container Ports Based on Lotka-Volterra Model

Europe is one of the important regions with the global container shipping business. Studying competition among port container business helps to improve the overall containerized transportation efficiency in Europe and assist liners to make correct decisions under the new global shipping pattern. Therefore, this paper uses non-autonomous Lotka-Volterra model to quantitatively study the type and degree of competition among major European container ports. The result shows that the ports in the Mediterranean region tend to be predatory and competitive. Besides, this paper also predicts the future trend of competition and cooperation of European container ports under the scenarios of “Sulphur Restriction Order” by modifying the utility function.

Alternative Approach for Improvement Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Large European Container Ports

The main objectives of the EU transport policy belongs the limitation of the negative environmental impact from ports. Similarly, companies are adopting sustainable supply chain management practices to response the policy makers’ and consumers’ demands for sustainable operations. This paper aims to discover how the largest European container ports communicate about their efforts to improve the sustainability of their operations to find out how the ports themselves see their position as a part of transition towards more sustainable supply chain operations. Based on the study, different large European container ports consider environmental issues variously. The risk is that some ports may get competitive advantages by slipping in the environmental questions. Alternatively, if the port does not take sustainability questions seriously and it gets a bad reputation, the risk is that the customers and consumers do not accept the behavior of the port and shipping companies start to avoid that port. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-02-06 Full Text: PDF

China’s Participation in European Container Ports: Drivers and Possible Future Scenarios

Les prises de participation chinoises dans les ports à conteneurs européens représentent aujourd’hui 10 % des volumes totaux, là où elles étaient quasiment inexistantes il y a dix ans. Elles sont le fait de deux entreprises publiques : COSCO et China Merchants Group (CMG). Cet article revient sur les facteurs explicatifs de cette croissance et propose trois scénarios relatifs à ces prises de participation chinoises dans les ports à conteneurs européens en 2025.

The geography of container port choice: modelling the impact of hinterland changes on port choice

European container ports compete in partially overlapping hinterland areas. The objective of this study is to model port choice and obtain insight into port choice decisions for European container imports from Asia. The importance of port choice factors and their impact on port market shares in the hinterland were investigated. Furthermore, sensitivity of the model in predicting the impact of increasing fuel prices on port hinterlands was tested. Containerised imports of 231 European mainland regions were compiled, based on shipping data, port statistics, modal split and gross regional products. Using literature sources, 11 port choice factors were selected; five of these were found to be statistically significant. These factors and their respective weights were used as input for a logit port choice model to analyse container port imports for 31 ports; the most detailed model yet. A varying oil price scenario was used to show the application and sensitivity of the model. Changing oil prices were found to have an impact on modal split and on the average hinterland transport distance.

Competitive intensity and inefficiency in European container ports

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between intensity of competition and technical efficiency of large European container ports, accounting for regional diversities and spatial aspects of inter-port competition. Design/methodology/approach The analysis consists of applying a stochastic production frontier approach to a dataset of 77 large European container ports over the period 2002-2012, with inefficiency terms simultaneously modeled as a function of (among other factors) a constructed index of competitive intensity at different spatial levels. Findings The results indicate that there is no significant negative effect of competitive intensity on efficiency. In fact, for competing European ports within a proximity of 300 km, a higher level of competition is found to be associated with a higher level of technical efficiency. Originality/value The originality of the paper stems from its particular focus on European port regions and its novel findings in this context, which have implications for the discussions regarding pro-competitive port policy and regulation in the European Union.

North–South container port competition in Europe: The effect of changing environmental policy

This article examines environmental policy impacts on competition between the European container ports in the Hamburg–Le Havre range on the one hand and the Mediterranean ports on the other. More in particular, two scenarios are considered: the internalisation of external cost on the European hinterland and the establishment of a Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) in the North Sea region. Geographically, applications are made for container loops from both Asia and South America to Europe. A total chain model is applied that incorporates the maritime, port and hinterland legs of the supply chain. The calculations show that the effects of either policy option would not significantly impact on the theoretical captive hinterland of respectively the Hamburg–Le Havre range and the ports of the Mediterranean, as the effects measured are smaller than the error margin of the model applied. Additionally, it is found that the impacts of the two policy options on competition between ports in the Hamburg–Le Havre range and the Mediterranean ports would differ for the two container loops considered.

COMPETITION BETWEEN CONTAINER PORTS IN THE NORTHERN ADRIATIC

World trade has changed in the last decade such that container traffic flows are oriented towards more parts of the European continent. The European container port system is not a homogeneous set of ports; instead it consists of several big ports (e.g., Rotterdam, Hamburg, Algeciras...) and a large number of medium and small ports. Northern Adriatic (NA) ports, namely Rijeka, Koper, Trieste, Venice and Ravenna, are small ports. Each of these ports have different development plans but in varying degrees common hinterlands and costumers. As these ports are located very close one to another, they have to cooperate, but at same time they are competing for their market share. Based on the literature related to port competition and port selection the authors have analysed the throughput in NA ports for the last twenty four years, and in accordance with this, they have prepared a model for expected growth of container throughput in this region. The resulting model of port dynamics includes three characteristics of container throughput: relative growth, market share and container shift. Furthermore, to obtain some insight into cooperation/competition between the NA ports they have set up a simple dynamic model in which they selected ports’ market share fractions for each port as a dynamic variable

A Comparison of Efficiency with Productivity Criteria for European Container Ports

The shipping industry and the transportation of goods through ports have been rapidly growing owing to global economy, containerization of different types of goods, state of the art ship construction technology, and efficient logistics networks. As a nation's major infrastructure for international trade, porthas become important in its role as a connecting point between land and sea transportation. In global logistics environment, stiff competition among major ports worldwide to dominate and control the container market will get more intense.Therefore, ports strive to improve the service and facilities to attract more ships from across the world. As of 2008, more than 80% of international trade is done by sea transport and to meet the growing demand for goods transport, ports need to expand their capacity by improving the productivity of ports facilities. In this regard, this study focuses on the evaluation and comparison of port efficiency with 4 productivity criteria based on which the overall ranking will be determined. For the research, we employed PROMETHEE method to calculate the rank of the 19 European container ports.The result shows that the GioiaTauro, Valencia, and Rotterdam ports scored the first 3 ranks in the year 2010, respectively. The Rotterdam has the highest productive working hours but lowest productivity in crane utilization. Valencia has 2 criteria (berth, area) with the highest productivity but relatively longer working hours considering the throughput. GioiaTauro shows 69% or higher in 3 criteria(berth, area, crane) with the highest crane productivity, whereas the working hour is only 18% in productivity. Based on the result of the study, Rotterdam needs to take some measure to utilize the crane in more efficient way, while Valencia, and GioiaTauro require more flexible working hours in the direction of reducing the overall working hours of employees.

Container port infrastructure in north-west Europe: Policy-level modeling

Against the background of economic downturn and recovery, this study analyzes container port infrastructure, shipping flows and congestion patterns to support policy level modeling rather than more micro-focused quayside-level modeling. It does so using a discrete-event simulation model of the North-West European container port and shipping sector to inform in this application a UK policy perspective. Two scenarios are investigated and a number of policy implications highlighted. The model advanced can, with appropriate re-calibration, be applied in other container port and shipping sectors.

Concentration and the formation of multi-port gateway regions in the European container port system: an update

The European container port system features a unique blend of different port types and sizes combined with a vast economic hinterland. This paper provides an update of the detailed container traffic analysis developed by Notteboom (1997) by extending it to the period 1985–2008 and to 78 container ports. The paper also aims at identifying key trends and issues underlying recent developments in the European container port system. These trends include the formation of multi-port gateway regions, changes in the hinterland orientation of ports and port regionalization processes. While the local hinterland remains the backbone of ports’ traffic positions, a growing demand for routing flexibility fuels competition for distant hinterlands between multi-port gateway regions. The prevailing assumption that containerisation would lead to further port concentration is not a confirmed fact in Europe: the European port system and most of its multi-port gateway regions witness a gradual cargo deconcentration process. Still, the container handling market remains far more concentrated than other cargo handling segments in the European port system, as there are strong market-related factors supporting a relatively high cargo concentration level in the container sector.

The efficiency of European container ports: A cross-sectional data envelopment analysis

This paper focuses on measuring the efficiency of container terminals in Europe using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Container terminals in Europe play an important role in the region’s economic development and, as the result of their geographic concentration, face fierce competition compared with the rest of the world. Despite this, studies of the efficiency of container terminals in the region are minimal. As a basis for further research, this paper serves to supplement existing studies by deriving estimates of relative efficiency for a sample comprising 69 of Europe’s container terminals with annual throughput of over 10,000 TEUs. The scale properties of container terminal production are also considered as part of the study, as is the relationship of efficiency to geographical influence.

Structural changes in logistics: how will port authorities face the challenge?

The market environment in which ports operate has changed dramatically, and this continuous process of change raises questions on the role of port authorities. This paper discusses the impact of some structural changes in international trade, transport and shipping on strategic and operational issues in the framework of port management. The central hypothesis put forward is that a successful port (authority), like a successful actor, must be prepared to constantly adopt new roles in order to cope with the changing market environment. The content and strategic scope of these new roles are highlighted, especially with regard to the European container port system.

Structural changes in logistics: how will port authorities face the challenge?

The market environment in which ports operate has changed dramatically, and this continuous process of change raises questions on the role of port authorities. This paper discusses the impact of some structural changes in international trade, transport and shipping on strategic and operational issues in the framework of port management. The central hypothesis put forward is that a successful port (authority), like a successful actor, must be prepared to constantly adopt new roles in order to cope with the changing market environment. The content and strategic scope of these new roles are highlighted, especially with regard to the European container port system.

Concentration and load centre development in the European container port system

Only a few theories exist on the development of a container port system in relation to forelands, hinterlands and the technological environment. Moreover, very few were ever applied to the European container port system. This study examines recent dynamics — in particular, concentration and deconcentration tendencies and load centre development — in the European continental container port system for the period 1980–1994. It is demonstrated that the prevailing assumption that containerization leads to further port concentration is no longer confirmed. The results of the concentration analysis are fitted into some models on the development of port systems. Furthermore, the factors affecting the future concentration pattern in the European container port system are discussed.