The two main value propositions in international container transport are ‘port-to-port’ services and door-to-door services. In port-port services, buyers ‘just’ purchase maritime transport from a shipping line. Door-to-door services comprise of the total transport chain and include land based transport. Carriers as well as forwarders offer these door-to-door services.
The latest study Towards an inland terminal centred value proposition in container transport? of PortEconomics co-director Peter De Langen and Roy van den Berg (Port of Rotterdam Authority The Netherlands) published in the scientic journal Maritime Policy and Management, provides a qualitative assessment of an emerging third value proposition that is centred on inland terminals. Such a value proposition consists of transport up to the inland terminal, and may have advantages over port to port services, such as better leverage of scale economies, better repositioning of empty containers and better alignment with the business modelof forwarders. The study conceptually and empirically explores such a value proposition.
You may download the authors’ version @ PortEconomics.eu.