Seaports increasingly act as turntables in global supply chains and global production networks. Still, cargo handling remains a primary function of seaports. Dock workers have a key role to play in guaranteeing efficient and safe cargo handling activities at terminals. The organisation of dock work in seaports has received quite some attention in the past decade, not only in the port business but also in (European) policy circles.
The academic journal ‘International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics’ (IJSTL) recently published a paper entitled ‘The impact of changing market requirements on dock labour employment systems in northwest European seaports’.
In the study, PortEconomic co-director Theo Notteboom presents a market-driven perspective on the organisation of dock work in light of changing market requirements. The study conceptualises how changing market requirements affect the characteristics and the design of dock labour employment systems in seaports. The demand for a high dock labour performance is decomposed into three underlying dimensions: labour productivity, cost efficiency and more qualitative factors such as labour flexibility and service delivery. The internal organisation of dock labour takes place within a wider setting of legal and social conditions and the state of technology.
Using the conceptual framework, Theo analyses how terminal operators try to meet changing market requirements through the deployment of new technology and advances in dock labour organisation. Empirical evidence is provided by zooming in on the evolution of dock labour arrangements and employment systems in a number of northwest European ports.
The full paper can be downloaded from the IJSTL website at this location.
The full reference of the article is “Notteboom, T., 2018, The impact of changing market requirements on dock labour employment systems in northwest European seaports, International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics (IJSTL), vol. 10, no. 4, p. 429-454”.
