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IAPH World Ports Tracker 2026 reveals state of global port sustainability
Feedback from global ports handling more than 8.6 billion tons of maritime cargo gives a clear picture of a sector committed to steady sustainability attainment but wary of growing security threats Despite regulatory uncertainty and political headwinds, decarbonisation plans by the world’s leading ports do not appear materially changed in 2026, IAPH’s World Ports Tracker 2026 reveals. The status of IMO’s Net Zero Framework has been in doubt since October last year, yet more than half of world ports are ‘going the extra...
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Risk-driven supply chain designs – a re-assessment with geopolitical and geoeconomic considerations
In 2022, Gordon Wilmsmeier and Marcus Thiell (Universidad De Los Andes, Colombia) published the chapter "Risk-driven supply chain design in complex environments, which emerged from observations of social, economic, and environmental disturbances causing global supply chain disruptions. Given current dynamics, we revisited and updated our framework. A short recap Their chapter developed a risk-driven approach to strategic supply chain design, arguing that traditional paradigms—cost/efficiency and agility—are increasingly...
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Port-city integration
The “Climate Neutral Blue Cities by 2030” Conference was organised by the Municipality of Limassol in the framework of the EU Mission for 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030, with the support of the EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters. Under the auspices of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026, the conference brought together European and local leaders, policy-makers, and experts to explore how port and coastal cities can rapidly advance towards climate neutrality. PortEconomics,...
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Rhine-Scheldt delta port system
By Theo Notteboom The Port of Rotterdam and Port of Antwerp-Bruges are Europe’s two largest seaports in terms of cargo volume. Together with other major hubs in the Rhine–Scheldt Delta, such as the cross‑border North Sea Port and the North Sea Canal port cluster near Amsterdam, they form an integrated logistics and industrial ecosystem that handles more than a quarter of all maritime cargo in the European Union. These port complexes face comparable strategic challenges, including digital transformation, the energy transition,...
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Commission unveils new EU Ports Strategy
The European Commission adopted the EU Ports Strategy, a comprehensive framework to step up the competitiveness, resilience, security, and sustainability of Europe’s ports. The Strategy puts forward actions focused on five priorities to address the most pressing challenges: Strengthen competitiveness, innovation and digitalisation To improve coherence and coordination, the Commission will develop criteria and guiding principles for EU funding and investments in third-country ports. The Commission...
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PortGraphic: Container port dynamics near Gibraltar
By Theo Notteboom The Strait of Gibraltar occupies a pivotal position along some of the world’s most important East–West trade lanes. For many years, Algeciras, strategically located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, was the first port to fully exploit this geographical advantage by developing a transhipment hub position. In the mid‑1990s, its strong transhipment orientation enabled it to capture nearly 70% of the total container volume handled by the five ports shown in the graph. Last year, its share had fallen to just...
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A metric of global maritime supply chain disruptions: The global supply chain stress index - maritime (GSCSI-M)
Global supply chains regularly face widespread disruptions, with events such as the COVID-19 pandemic (2021−22), geopolitical incidents in the Red Sea, and water shortages at the Panama Canal (2023–24) impacting global maritime trade flows and shipping routes. Regardless of the cause, delays or rerouting in critical maritime supply lines have had a global impact. To quantify and assess the magnitude and location of such maritime disruptions, a proposed metric, the Global Supply Chain Stress Index - Maritime (GSCSI-M), has been...
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PortGraphic: Top-15 EU container ports in Q3 2025
By Theo Notteboom Following a strong recovery in 2024 after a challenging 2023, the first nine months of 2025 reveal a shift in growth dynamics across the top 15 EU container ports: Only three ports achieved double-digit growth: Gdansk leads with an impressive 21.7% increase, largely driven by the launch of its newest terminal at the Baltic Hub. Gioia Tauro continues its upward trajectory, fueled by MSC’s sustained investment and operations. Bremerhaven tops 10% growth and is expected to move from the seventh place in 2024 to the...