Containerised freight distribution in North America and Europe is the theme discussed by PortEconomics members Theo Notteboom and Jean-Paul Rodrigue in a chapter published in the edited volume Handbook of Global Logistics: Transportation in International Supply Chains. The book is now published by Springer.
Theo and Jean-Paul argue that it is rather uncommon for country pairs to be directly connected by shipping services. This is because the concept of “intermediacy” is increasingly important in regional or global freight distribution. Intermediacy addresses a whole range of network structures and nodes using to connect different market scales.
In this study, the comparative intermediacy of transport nodes in Europe and North America is assessed over intermodal rail transport, and especially in container shipping. The respective cases of gateways, gateway port systems, and coastal and inland waterways are discussed. Each exemplifies a particular dimension of the intermediacy and freight regionalism that distinguishes North America and Europe.
More about the book @the publisher’s webpage: Handbook of Global Logistics
