The containerization of commodities involves the development and expansion of a niche market that can fluctuate according to the price of the respective commodities, the nature and extent of the demand and container shipping rates. All of these are commodity specific and will convey new opportunities for commodity exporters and buyers alike. The last decade have been prone to the containerization of commodities as container shipping rates remained relatively constant while the price of most commodity groups doubled or tripled. Containerisation enables a better level of inventory management of commodities. Yet, the availability of containers is a recurring challenge since maritime shipping companies, as dominant managers of containerized assets, will allocate them where there are commercial opportunities to recoup the costs of having these containers circulating outside their shipping and port networks.PortEconomics associate member Jean-Paul Rodrigue, studies The Containerization of Commodities: Integrating Inland Ports with Gateways and Corridors in Western Canada in a report provides an analysis of the major trends in the containerization of commodities and looks at its commercial potential and operational hurdles. The setting of inland ports in Western Canada is seen as a strategy to help reconcile import (retail dominated) and export (commodities dominated) logistics.A growing level of intermodal integration is being observed in Western Canada, which reflects a trend observed across North America and elsewhere around the world. Inland ports are likely to be the missing multiplying effect that would encourage maritime shipping companies to have a larger number of containerized assets moving inland. It is still too early to assess the extent inland ports will play in the containerization of commodities, but it has grown rapidly. Yet, transloading near port terminal facilities has been a preferred strategy to cope with the challenges in the availability of containers. There are indications that some transloading activities can be effectively moved…

Is the Panama Canal expansion a big step? or is the Canal expansion to handle "New Panamax" containerships with 19 containers across the deck just a small Leap? PortEconomics associate member Prof. Jean-Paul Rodrigue discussed the issue during the Conference "The Big Leap 2014: Challenges and Opportunities for Infrastructure in Colombia Upon New flows of International Trade", held in Cartagena (Colombia), ealrier this year.Those interested in the drivers of today maritme trade, logistics, transhipment in the Carribean, and what lies ahead might read th presentation which is available @ Jean-Paul's personal webpage: "A Big Step or a Small Leap? The Panama Canal Expansion and Global Supply Chains".

PortEconomics ass. member Patrick Verhoeven delivered an invited lecture on "Port Development in Europe – Prospects and Challenges", participating at the Old Dominion University- Maritime Institute Speaker Series. The lecture took place at Norfolk Virginia, US.During his lecture, Patrick focused on the governance implications of the operational, spatial and societal dimensions of port developments. Patrick concluded presenting an overview of the latest developments of the European Port Policy.Patrick's lecture is available @ PortEconomics:  Port Development in Europe Following the lecture at OWIT Hampton Road, Virginia Norfolk: (from left) Prof. Wayne Talley, director of the Old Dominion Maritime Institute, Patrick Verhoeven, Sara Russel and Larry Filer.

Ass. member Adolf K.Y. Ng published a study to be featured in Research in Transportation Economics, entitled: "The Implications of the Re-Establishment of Direct Links Across the Taiwan Strait on the Aviation Industries in Greater China". The paper forms part of the special issue Transport Development in China (co-edited by Adolf K.Y. Ng and James J. Wang).The paper investigates the economic implications of the liberalization of air transportation across the Taiwan Strait to the region's aviation industries, including airlines and airports. Analysis suggests that liberalization has brought substantial benefits to airports and airlines in Mainland China and Taiwan. Negative impacts to Hong Kong are largely compensated by traffic increase in routes linking Mainland China. In general, Taiwanese airports and airlines have benefited more from liberalization compared to airports and airlines on the mainland and Hong Kong. Such asymmetric effect is due to the larger size of the Mainland Chinese aviation market, which allows Taiwanese airlines to exploit network-related benefits. Finally, the paper suggests that foreign hub carriers and medium sized Chinese airports will benefit most from China's future liberalizations.For further information about the paper, please contact Adolf @ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The paper can be downloaded via the Journal's webpage @ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885911000631

PortEconomics ass. member Adolf K.Y. Ng was awarded the Endeavour Research Fellowship by the Australian Government. He will spend the first half of 2012 in Australian Maritime College (AMC), University of Tasmania as a Visiting Research Fellow, of which he will conduct collaborative research and teaching with AMC faculty staff.The Endeavour Awards is the Australian Government's internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship programme providing opportunities for citizens of the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe and the Americas to undertake study, research andprofessional development in Australia. Awards are also available for Australians to undertake study, research and professional development abroad. It is a part of the Australia Awards initiative announced by the Australian Government in November2009. The Australia Awards have been established to maximise the benefits to Australia of its extensive scholarship programs, and to support enduring ties between Australia and our neighbours. It brings together the international development awards administrated by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) Endeavour Awards under a single recognisable brand. Further information of the Award is available at www.AustraliaAwards.gov.au.