A new OECD report on "The Competitiveness of Global Port-Cities; The Case of Rotterdam/Amsterdam – The Netherlands" was presented on May 10, 2013. The report was co-authored by OECD's Olaf Merk and PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom, but it draws on the work of a number of other contributors, including PortEconomics members César Ducruet and Wouter Jacobs. The report has been realized at the request of the Netherlands Ministry of the Economy, Agriculture and Innovation, the city of Rotterdam, the city of Amsterdam and the port authority of Amsterdam.  The reporter offers an evaluation of the performance of the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, an analysis of the impact of these ports on their territory and an assessment of policies and governance in this field. It examines port performance over the last decades and identifies the principal factors that have contributed to it. The effect of the ports on economic and environmental questions is studied and quantified where possible. The value added of the port clusters of Rotterdam and Amsterdam is calculated and its interlinkages with other economic sectors and regions in the Netherlands delineated. The major policies governing the ports are assessed, along with policies governing transport and economic development, the environment and spatial planning. These include measures instituted by the port authorities, as well as by local, regional and national governments. Governance mechanisms at these different levels are described and analysed. Based on the report's findings, recommendations are proposed with a view to improving port performance and increasing the positive effects of the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam on their territory. The report - the full reference of which is "Merk, O., Notteboom, T. (2013), «The Competitiveness of Global Port-Cities: the Case of Rotterdam, Amsterdam – the Netherlands», OECD Regional Development Working Papers, 2013/06, OECD Publishing, Paris." - is the sixth in a…

The performance effects of the corporatisation of Port of Rotterdam Authority is the theme of a new port study conducted by PortEconomics co-director Peter de Langen, in collaboration with Christiaan Heij. The Port of Rotterdam Authority is a publicly owned but corporatized port development company. In 2004, this organisation was transformed from a municipal department to an independently operating company. The corporatisation intended to improve the overall performance of the port of Rotterdam. Relevant performance indicators to evaluate the effect of this corporatisation include market share, turnover, operating costs, profits, and investments. These indicators are evaluated for two periods, one prior to the corporatisation (1997-2003) and the other afterwards (2005-2011). The comparison of these two periods shows that corporatisation has led to significant performance improvements. This finding is relevant for the ongoing discussion on port governance models. The research paper is now publised by the Econometric Institute of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, in as part of its series Econometric Institute Reports. You can freely download the report @PortEconomics:  Performance effects of the corporatisation of Port of Rotterdam Authority

Stakeholder management and path dependence in large-scale transport infrastructure development: the port of Antwerp case (1960–2010) is the theme of a new port study by PortEconomics member Michael Dooms, PortEconomics associate member Elvira Haezendonck, in collaboration with Alain Verbeke. The present study argues that the effective implementation of new, large-scale seaport infrastructure projects provides a stimulus to policy makers to engage on a path of continuous reflection on who and what matters in decision-making: the continuous updating of one's understanding of spatial differentiation of stakeholder views is critical in this respect, and involves the real inclusion of spatially proximate and spatially distant stakeholders. The authors analyse the role of path dependency in the socio-political process of long-term strategic port planning and the related requisite governance changes needed for effective implementation of large scale port projects. The researchers mainly base themselves on the most recent insights from stakeholder theory and the strategic planning literature, applied to the transport sector. Further, they take as a starting point one of the criticisms on path dependence that its proper application warrants more attention to temporal dynamics. The study attempts to define these temporal dynamics and argues that (1) these are best identified by means of stakeholder-based analysis, and (2) long-term, strategic port planning based on real stakeholder inclusion can act as a driver for governance change in the broader port region or port system. The study uses a case-based, action-research type methodological approach, analyzing the strategic port planning process of the port of Antwerp to support the argument. The paper combines diachronic analysis of stakeholder inclusion in port planning, with an analysis of the general economic and infrastructural evolution of the port area and its impacts on stakeholders since 1960, and pays special attention to port governance changes during the period 1960–2010. The study is published…

PortEconomics co-directors Peter de Langen, Theo Notteboom and Thanos Pallis are the authors of the first PortEconomics editorial published in the Port Technology International Magazine, marking the inauguration of the PortEconomics and Port Technology International 'partnership in publishing'. In their editorial entitled "The Quality of Port Infrastructure ranking: Some insights" Peter, Theo and Thanos discuss the port infrastructure rankings provided by the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) of the World Economic Forum (WEF). In sports, and increasingly in business, rankings abound. Today, we have rankings of the best places to live, the most knowledge intensive regions of the world and the most competitive economies. In the latter case, countries are compared across economic performance criteria. One of the most influential is the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The 2012-2013 WEF ranking appeared last September. Switzerland is on top, moving ahead of Singapore. The WEF ranking consists of over 100 ranked items, classified in 12 pillars. For each pillar, some rankings are survey based, while others are based on actual data. Through the provision of cost-efficient, reliable and frequent connections to overseas and inland markets seaports play an essential role in facilitating trade and in increasing the competitiveness of a nation or region. It is no surprise that Pillar 2 of the GCI dealing with infrastructure includes a component on the 'Quality of Port Infrastructure'. You can freely download the editorial as Published @PortEconomics: PTI56-2012-Quality of port infrastructure ranking-De Langen et.al   Partners in Publishing          

The gateway and the hinterlands dynamics of African container port system is the subject of the recent study of PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom alond with Darren Fraser that published in the latest issue of African Journal of Business Management. The Southern African container port system features a diverse range of different port types and sizes from five African countries. Collectively, ports in this region constituted a significant 40% market share of all container traffic through the African continent in 2005. One of the busiest container ports on the continent, the Port of Durban is located within the Southern African region. The region has seen strong port development in the last 15 years with new ports entering the market or existing ports expanding their supply. Theo and Darren building further upon economic literature and empirical studies on port competition, competitiveness and on port geography literature on the development of port systems, with this study provide an academically-sound and policy-relevant assessment of the development paths of the Southern African container port system. The study includes a detailed container traffic analysis, applying the net shift model, for major container terminals in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius from 1985 to 2010. Also the study discloses the level of concentration or deconcentration. Concentration/deconcentration factors applicable to the port system and its respective ranges are identified together with a port range developmental path (linear or non-linear) for each. As such, the paper complements earlier empirical research on European, North American and Asian port systems and thus contributes to advancing and broadening the methodological and empirical discussion on port system development. You might download the authors' version of the study via PortEconomics:  African Journal of Business Management-2012-Fraser & Notteboom