Port Community Research Articles

A decade of ‘blue tourism’ sustainability research: Exploring the impact of cruise tourism on coastal areas

AbstractCruise tourism research has developed exponentially during the past decades. Global tourism activity in general and cruises in particular are concentrated in coastal areas and represent a dominant part of the so-called ‘blue economy’. Within this context, the public debate surrounding the impact of cruise tourism on port communities reflects a narrative of unsustainable growth, environmental pollution and negative globalisation-related symbolism. Yet, the relatively small size of the cruise sector and the over-focus on emissions arguably misrepresents the overall impact and potential of this tourism domain for portside communities, economies and ecosystems. Cruise-related scientific research, as probably expected, offers a much more refined and holistic picture, transcending the somewhat populist public debate on this matter. Based on a systematic literature review examining cruise-related papers published between 1983 and 2009, Papathanassis and Beckmann (2011)Annals of Tourism Research38(1), 153–174, identified 145 papers, which were subsequently subjected to a metadata- and a thematic-analysis. Approximately, a quarter of them addressed the environmental-, social- and economic impacts of cruising on coastal regions. A decade later, and following an analogous methodological approach, a total of 305 cruise research papers, published between 2012 and 2022, yielded 161 relevant papers, subjected to the same coding scheme and thematically compared to previous findings. The subsequent thematic analysis, revealed a comprehensive set of issues, opportunities and challenges cruise tourism poses to coastal areas. Following a critical discussion of past developments and their trajectory, a future research and action agenda is proposed.

Focal points for the development and operation of port community System–A case study of development history in Japan

This study identifies focal points for the successful development and operation of Port Community System (PCS). First, we conducted a literature review and present a comprehensive and systematic overview of the focal points. Second, as a case study, we analyzed the history of PCSs and their related systems in Japan, including an analysis of the systems that had been discontinued and the trend of integration. Consequently, we found some novel focal points that had been overlooked in existing research, such as the importance of avoiding the duplication of functionalities between PCSs and existing related systems and the difficulty in making users bear the cost burden of their own system's update for system linkage with a PCS before the utilization of the PCS is spread. Finally, we discuss the implications for certain focal points, such as the target PCS usage rate.

Paving the way for the future of Short Sea Shipping: The MOSES project

As the European Union (EU) has aimed for a modal shift from road transport to other more sustainable transport modes, such as rail or waterborne transport, Short Sea Shipping (SSS) has gained more attention. In order to provide an overview of SSS component in the European supply chain, the current status, established networks and legislative drivers for its promotion are analyzed, as well as relevant shortcomings and potential market opportunities. In parallel, the contribution of MOSES project to SSS is examined, through the development of innovative solutions aiming to address the vulnerabilities and strains related to the operation of large containerships and the engagement of port community stakeholders. Finally, associated business cases are presented, along with the expected results of MOSES project and the foreseen benefits towards SSS promotion and enhancement.

TOE framework in risk management during implementation of the Croatian national Port Community System

The subject of this paper is use of Technological-Organisational-External (TOE) framework during implementation of the Croatian national Port Community System between 2018. and 2022. Main research hypothesis is that TOE framework is a suitable, yet generally unrecognized abstract model for project risk mitigation during development of complex maritime cargo single windows systems. Formal development requirements along with the main stakeholders and their internal systems are identified. Project risk is mapped to the framework’s criteria, its execution and main milestones are identified and discussed, including risk occurrences during project execution, leading to confirmation of the work hypothesis. As a conclusion, improvements to the methodology are proposed, along with possibilities of the future research.

A systems approach to developing a port community system for South Africa

Port community systems (PCS), as electronic platforms enabling the intelligent and secure exchange of information between public and private stakeholders in ports, are central to port supply chains. PCS drive productivity, efficiencies, and competitiveness whilst improving the port’s attractiveness. They connect port users and supply chain participants and allow them to share information efficiently on a single platform by drawing data from different enterprise resource management systems. Port systems are complex networks of functions integrated to deliver cargo services to port users. Developing countries’ ports have suffered adversely from their slow adoption of PCS; consequently, their performance improvements have stagnated over time. This article uses Soft Systems Methodology and applies it to the case of South Africa’s ports that are particularly affected by the absence of PCS. The article also presents a framework for implementing PCS. Primary data was gathered through 24 interviews and two port stakeholder workshops. The findings show that port users are operating on fragmented and different platforms, lack integration and collaboration, and no single platform is used to share critical shipping information. Nevertheless, the interviewees all supported the creation of a PCS, and this article develops and recommends a framework for implementing a PCS in South Africa.

Mixed Bloods in a Plural Society: Recovering the Place of Hybridized 'Chinese' in Indonesia's Port Communities

Mixed Bloods in a Plural Society: Recovering the Place of Hybridized 'Chinese' in Indonesia's Port Communities

Chattogram Port: A dedicated service institution to evolve the country boldly

Chattogram Port, the premier seaport of Bangladesh, has reached a remarkable position, not only in South Asia, but also in the world for its record performance in handling cargo and containers. This has happened due to continuous increase of GDP, infrastructural development, increased purchasing power, foreign exchange by manpower business, port development, and the efforts of many people. The history of Chattogram port began in the 4th century BC, when Chattogram was known as “Shetgang”, or “Delta of the Ganges”; later, in the 16th century, it was known as “Porte Grande”. The present location of the port was established in the year 1887 that developed by 1910. In 1960, all assets of the port were declared under the property of “Port Trust”. However, port management, operations, and others are directed by Chittagong Port Authority Ordinance, 1976. As per port throughput of 2019, the port was declared as the 58th busiest container port in the world by Lloyds List in their 100 ports ranking in 2020. Furthermore, in 2021, Chattogram Port handled a record 3.2 million TEUs. This research applied a mixed-method approach, where the quantitative approach tried to explore Chattogram Port’s performance data, and the qualitative approach used historical data and information to articulate port features in the internal and external environment. The originalities of this research are geopolitical debate to select Chattogram Port as a prime maritime load center of South Asia to connect the landlocked parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, and Myanmar, active regional and international forums like BCIM, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN), SAARC, BIMSTEC, OBOR, and QUAD based on Chattogram Port, and development of Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) internationally to improve freight transport connectivity, and use expansion of hinterland to provide maritime logistics services for regional connectivity. A recent step by the port authority to invest in constructing a deep seaport in the Bay of Bengal, attractive to the world port community and remarked by all in port expansion, investment, and efficiency, was investigated rigorously. Overall, this paper aims to explore Chattogram Port’s current activity and future planning, and recall the port’s history as inspiration and motivation to shape the port in a notable position in the port world. Highlights Dedication of Chattogram port in developing Bangladesh Managing maximum Import and Export trade to increase the GDP of Bangladesh Golden gateway of the Bay of Bengal Regional connectivity in South Asia

Risk-benefit perceptions, preferences for solutions, and gaining trust: Listening to New Jersey's Atlantic Ocean port communities.

We designed a survey to measure public preferences for management actions at ports that would reduce negative risk perceptions, increase competence-based trust, and overall provide port managers with opportunities to build communication channels with surrounding populations. A total of 511 people who lived in a 45-square mile area of New Jersey containing over 300,000 people and a dozen large and small ports responded to solutions that offered independent science support, provided ongoing public health surveillance, and economic assistance for local communities. Environmental health concerns about air, noise, fires, port security, and protection against climate-related impacts were major correlates of these preferences. Yet many residents recognized economic benefits associated with nearby ports and many either trusted port management or were neutral and felt not well informed. Those who had a personal or family connection to the port were stronger port supporters. The most important finding and challenge for port managers is building ongoing relationships with the majority of nearby residents who are not aware of port activities, which presents an opportunity for increasing trust through proactive outreach and listening to nearby community representatives.

Developing and demonstrating a maturity model for smart ports

ABSTRACT Increasing congestion and the push for (i) a greener modal shift, (ii) more reliability and visibility of goods, and (iii) more sustainable activities in and related to the port are turning policymakers to the concept of the smart port. Such emerging concept describes a future state of the port that is adapted to these challenges. A smart port is a port that optimizes in-, intra- and outbound flow of goods and information, leads sustainable development and guarantees safe, resilient and secure activities through the capabilities of its (extended) port community and enabling technologies. However, turning a traditional port into a smart port is a strategic challenge for the port community at large. To contribute to this practically relevant and academic challenge, the present paper applies a literature review and the novel maturity model development methodology to develop a strategic tool. This newly-developed strategic tool (i) enhances the common understanding of the current and aspired maturity state, (ii) support decision-making of port policy and management actors and (iii) represent a maturation path for improvement for port communities. The case study results demonstrate the benefits and relevance of the tool. Finally, recommendations are made to apply this policy tool for digitalization strategy.

Towards a model of port-based resilience against fisher labour exploitation

Fishers have pronounced vulnerabilities to labour exploitation and modern slavery. Regulatory efforts to mitigate fisher labour exploitation through domestic modern slavery legislation, and through the ratification and implementation of The International Labour Organization’s Work in Fishing Convention (C188) have had varying success. This heterogeneity is mainly because the implementation of C188 rests upon ratified states enforcing aligned domestic legislation, and rests also on the supposition that each port state has the resources and capacity to implement these standards within its port networks through enforcement levers and agencies often with varying operational reach and with overlapping jurisdictions. In practice, C188 applies messily and variably in ports. Increasingly ports are cast as fulcrums for addressing labour abuses in fishing, yet policies have struggled to connect together the needs of individual fishers with relevant port structures and services in a meaningful and actionable way. This paper advances a conceptual model for conducting a port-by-port analysis of port communities by appraising site-based assets and dynamics. With this understanding, a port-based and place-specific account of fisher vulnerability and resilience can be constructed. This analysis also considers how regulatory coverage and enforcement can be supplemented by the operationalisation of a multi-factored, multi-scalar consideration of risk determinants. Together this dynamic asset and liability-based model of port resilience can better reflect the variability of port enforcement, capacity, and infrastructure to more effectively assess fisher labour exploitation and identify pathways for improved enforcement.

Application Prospects of Blockchain Technology to Support the Development of Interport Communities

A key aspect for the efficiency and security of maritime transport is linked to the associated information flows. The optimal management of maritime transport requires the sharing of data in real-time between the various participating organizations. Moreover, as supply chains become increasingly integrated, the connectivity of stakeholders must be ensured not only within the single port but also between ports. Blockchain could offer interesting opportunities in this regard and is believed to have a huge impact on the future of the digitization of the port and maritime industry. This document analyzes the state of art and practice of blockchain applications in the maritime industry and explores the application prospects and practical implications of blockchain for building an interport community. The paper uses SWOT analysis to address several research questions concerning the practical impacts and barriers related to the implementation of blockchain technology in port communities and develops a Proof of Concept (PoC) to concretely show how blockchain technology can be applied to roll-on roll-off transport and interport communities in real environments. In this regard, this study intends to contribute to the sector literature by providing a detailed framework that describes how to proceed to choose the correct blockchain scheme and implement the various management and operational aspects of an interport community by benefiting from the blockchain.

Influence Mechanism and Evolutionary Game of Environmental Regulation on Green Port Construction

Ports are not only an important driving force for the growth of the world economy but also the main energy-consuming unit and pollution source in the world. Under the new global energy crisis and environmental deterioration situation, the international port community has put forward the concept of green port development. As a guide, the government’s environmental regulation strategy can directly affect green port construction through market incentive or command control means and can also indirectly affect green port construction through the intermediary role of green innovation, industrial agglomeration and green logistics. Considering the strategic choices of the government, port enterprises and transportation enterprises, this paper constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model and considers whether the government carrying out environmental regulation is affected by the fine income and management cost, whether the willingness of port enterprises to carry out green port construction is determined by the extra construction cost and income and whether transportation enterprises choose green port logistics transportation depending on the extra income they receive. In the process of tripartite cooperation, the government’s environmental regulation, port enterprises’ green port construction and transportation enterprises’ choice of the green port logistics transportation mode constitute the most ideal strategy combination. Finally, the paper puts forward some suggestions for the strategy selection of the three parties in order to promote the realization of the ideal strategy combination and provide a theoretical reference for the construction of green ports.

Developing a smart port architecture and essential elements in the era of Industry 4.0

With rapid technological innovations spurred by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), today’s seaports are pressured to transform the way they operate in order to handle traffic flows. Such a transformation calls for the development of a smart port system. Despite the growing interest in smart ports, their underlying framework, architecture, and potential ramifications for port productivity are not well documented in the maritime logistics literature. To help port communities better comprehend smart port concepts and successfully develop a smart port within a global supply chain, this paper synthesizes core smart port concepts, designs underlying architecture, and proposes specific milestones for monitoring the smart port development project. We use content analysis and then we identify key success factors (e.g., essential components for the smart port architecture, value propositions, smart port performance metrics) for the establishment and sustainable growth of the smart port. The paper also aims to provide practical guidance for dealing with smart port challenges and opportunities. Our research reveals that a smart port reduces port-user response time, improves port asset utilization, and enhances maritime logistics visibility by automating and integrating end-to-end port operations digitally without human intervention.

Governance of inter-organizational systems: a longitudinal case study of Rotterdam’s Port Community System

An increasing use of inter-organizational systems, as Port Community System (PCS), can be observed in port collaborations. As multiple organizations often rely on PCS, even for business-critical processes, proper governance of these systems is crucial. This study aims to explain the governance of inter-organizational port collaborations using a lifecycles paradigm. The governance is explored using three points of view – i.e. governance mechanisms, governance aspects, and governance models – and by describing the actors’ roles in collaborations. A case study in the port of Rotterdam is analyzed to explain how these actors affect the governance models through the mechanisms to govern the aspects in each lifecycle stage. The port collaboration in Rotterdam has gone through three full governance lifecycles and has entered the fourth iteration after the set-up of Portbase. During the last two cycles, the collaboration has maintained its Network Administrative Organization governance model. This case study analysis of Rotterdam’s port collaboration provides an example of how a systematic approach could help to discuss and communicate the governance of inter-organizational port collaboration systems and gives some lessons learned for other collaborations.

Port Community Systems: Accelerating the Transition of Seaports toward the Physical Internet—The Portuguese Case

Supply chains are complex systems that have grown in dimension and spread worldwide. In supply chains, physical and information flows have strict service quality requirements, namely transparency conditions and traceability. Seaports, connecting land and maritime transport, are special components of supply chains where multiple players interact with different perspectives, and conflicting goals may arise. Port community authorities invest in electronic platforms to foster communication and integration with the companies that interact with the seaport, guiding the digitization of the seaport business. In main European and world ports, the Port Community System (PCS) is the platform that supports the creation of a network composed of shipping agents, shippers, freight forwarders, transporters, terminals, logistics platforms, and public entities. PCS focuses on service level, partner networks, maritime services, freight services, logistical services, and advanced port services. These features have an impact on seaport operations, which affects supply chain performance. Digitization within the scope of the PCSs has fostered the development of horizontal collaboration between seaport community partners. The Physical Internet (PI) is an innovative concept that seeks new logistics solutions requiring integration and interoperability between partners in the supply chain, including maritime and land transport. This paper focuses on (i) the evolution guidelines of PCSs and (ii) on the PCS Business Factors that can drive the supply chain into a significant improvement in performance. A survey was sent to a sample of Portuguese supply chain experts regarding the causal relationship between PCS Business Factors and supply chain performance in the next 10 to 20 years. From the data collected, recent services evolving at PCS are promoting a mindset change aligned to the implementation of a Physical Internet. Establishing a Physical Internal in Portuguese seaports could take decades, but it will support the transition to a new phase of PCS, accelerating the transition from Isolated Supply Chains (I-SCs) to Open Supply Chains (O-SCs), thus improving supply chain performance.

Ports in the Medieval European Atlantic: Shipping, Transport and Labour ed. by Rivera Medina and Ana María

Reviewed by: Ports in the Medieval European Atlantic: Shipping, Transport and Labour ed. by Rivera Medina and Ana María Patrick Ball Rivera Medina, Ana María, ed., Ports in the Medieval European Atlantic: Shipping, Transport and Labour, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2021; hardback; pp. xvi, 202; 16 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. £75.00; ISBN 9781783276158. As Jésus Ángel Solórzano Telechea remarks in the epilogue to this volume (p. 168), port history has emerged as a subdiscipline of urban history only in the past thirty years. Historical scholarship on ports had previously reflected other interests, touching on ports themselves only incidentally. As most recent research has a more modern focus, this book is designed to cater to medievalists, or those wanting a grounding in the medieval history of ports as background to the study of more recent centuries. The specific focus is smaller port towns. The work covers France and the Atlantic side of the Iberian Peninsula, with a closing chapter on the Canary Islands. The British Isles are not considered; in fact, only the opening chapter deals with France. This reflects the fact the volume grew from a collaboration between two Spanish research groups. The Iberian focus gives the book unity but renders its title somewhat misleading; it is also a misnomer in the sense that most chapters devote themselves partly or wholly to the sixteenth century, not the Middle Ages per se. Although different cultural practices and regulatory frameworks may mean the studies presented are not perfectly transferable, the work has comparative value for researchers investigating other regions or periods—the constraints and pressures on port communities were often the same. Certain chapters explore some specific aspect of port infrastructure, with the result that scholars not specialized in ports may find them interesting. The outstanding example of this is Amândio J. M. Barros’s examination of slave trading logistics in Portuguese ports. The volume’s production values are excellent. Maps, images, tables, and diagrams are clearly set out and well captioned. Footnote references are copious and informative. The editing (including English-language editing) is to a high standard. The chapter organization is primarily geographical (working down the coast of France, along Iberia’s western front, then jumping to Tenerife) but this fits the chronological and thematic structure well too: the first chapter deals with the medieval era; the next two cover the late Middle Ages and sixteenth century; subsequent chapters increasingly concern the sixteenth century. Were it not for the fact that these considerations more or less impose the chapter order adopted, I would have said that the two last contributions were best suited, from their nature, to introduce the subject: they present a bird’s-eye view of their topic, [End Page 259] permitting them to showcase the subject matter clearly and straightforwardly. In some respects, the earlier chapters involve more specialist concerns. The opening chapter, Mathias Tranchant’s, is something of an outlier. Tranchant describes who had jurisdiction over France’s medieval coastline—local lords, great lords, or the sovereign—how far out to sea these different jurisdictions extended, and how they might clash. While he does not differentiate ports from the coast in general, the work does not suffer from this. Then follow two chapters on cargo handling in northern Spain: Ana María Rivera Medina (the volume’s editor) on Basque stevedoring structures, and María Álvarez Fernández on Asturias. Rivera Medina’s contribution is, in particular, crisply and concisely written. Both touch on coastal geography’s limiting effect on ports. Natural deficiencies often demanded or stimulated the development of infrastructure and institutions. Chapters 4 and 5 concern Portuguese ports. Barros’s examines specific logistical issues around the slave trade and the role of slaves in port communities. Sara Pinto’s takes the port of Caminha as a case study, discussing cross-border interactions between Portugal and Spain and discussing the phenomenon of border interfaces more generally. Finally, Enrique José Ruiz Pilares considers infrastructure and stevedoring in Andalusia, while Roberto J. González Zalacain looks at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where Andalusian practices were influential. Tenerife’s case was atypical: an island whose indigenous inhabitants had had...

An ICT Prototyping Framework for the "Port of the Future".

Seaports are genuine, intermodal hubs connecting seaways to inland transport links, such as roads and railways. Seaports are located at the focal point of institutional, industrial, and control activities in a jungle of interconnected information systems. System integration is setting considerable challenges when a group of independent providers are asked to implement complementary software functionalities. For this reason, seaports are the ideal playground where software is highly composite and tailored to a large variety of final users (from the so-called port communities). Although the target would be that of shaping the Port Authorities to be providers of (digital) innovation services, the state-of-the-art is still that of considering them as final users, or proxies of them. For this reason, we show how a canonical cloud, virtualizing a distributed architecture, can be structured to host different, possibly overlapped, tenants, slicing the information system at the infrastructure, platform, and software layers. Resources at the infrastructure and platform layers are shared so that a variety of independent applications can make use of the local calculus and access the data stored in a Data Lake. Such a cloud is adopted by the Port of Livorno as a rapid prototyping framework for the development and deployment of ICT innovation services. In order to demonstrate the versatility of this framework, three case studies relating to as many prototype ICT services (Navigation Safety, e-Freight, and Logistics) released within three industrial tenants are here presented and discussed.

Hindrances in port digitalization? Identifying problems in adoption and implementation

Digitalization has an impact on all domains of maritime transport and logistics. Ports’ ability to act as a part of digital networks and information chains is vital for its competitiveness. This requires means and prerequisites to integrate with contemporary technology platforms and system architectures. Such readiness should exist in different parallel processes taking place in organizations of port communities. Successful digitalization requires focused technology management ensuring system and data transfer interoperability. The paper addresses problems, obstacles, and hindrances that ports are currently facing in their digitalization efforts. Interoperability and stakeholder interaction is significant, particularly between the port management, municipal ownership, and business operators and vendors. In the contemporary port development, environmental regulations have an effect on the level and effectiveness of digitalization. The future development of port digitalization will be dependent on the port capabilities to adopt and implement reliable and adoptable technologies with clear vision of the future.

Exploring the impact of port-centric information integration on port performance: the case of Qingdao Port

ABSTRACT Digital technologies are dramatically reshaping the maritime industry and transforming how ports operate in a global transport system. To remain competitive and improve its productivity, a port needs to build its digital capability and become a ‘smart’ port. Despite its increasing importance, port digitalisation is largely under-researched. Our research explores how information integration afforded by the recent development of Port Centric ICT systems (PCIS) may impact port performance. A survey was conducted in Qingdao Port, the seventh-largest comprehensive port in the world. We adopted the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique for analysis. Our model focuses on testing the mechanism of information integration on port performance among the port community members; that is, both internal information integration and external information integration and their direct and indirect impact on port performance. Our main contribution lies in that our study identifies two clear pathways for developing a port’s digitalisation processes to achieve competitive advantages: a) the mediated path, where port performance will improve if information integration is coupled with port community operational capability (PCOC); b) the direct path, where the innovative use of PCIS leads to radical ideas, new business models and transformative changes.

A System to Improve Port Navigation Safety and Its Use in Italian Harbours

This article describes research aimed at developing a system able to support local authorities and port communities in optimizing port navigation, avoiding or managing critical situations induced by sea-level variations in harbours and minimizing environmental damages and economic losses. In the Mediterranean basin, sea-level changes are mostly due to astronomical tides, related to the gravitational attraction between Earth, Moon and Sun. Nevertheless, sea-level variations are also influenced by meteorological tides, which are geodetic adjustments of sea surface due to atmospheric pressure variations above a water basin. So, starting from monitoring or forecasting environmental parameters in harbours, the system updates port bathymetric maps based on sea-level variations (acquired in the past, measured in real-time, or expected in the future) and detects hazardous areas for a certain ship moving inside a port at a given moment, by means of the implementation of “virtual traffic lights”. The system was tested on some real situations, including the analysis of maritime accidents (stranding of ships), providing satisfactory results by correctly signalling potentially dangerous areas variable over time. The architecture of the system and results achieved using it in the ports of Livorno and Bari, in Italy, are herewith described.