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Newly-upgraded IAPH World Ports Tracker identifies major sustainability and market trends
World ports are executing on planned infrastructure investments, community building and environmental sustainability initiatives. Important gaps have been identified in future fuels readiness, carbon emissions reporting, digitalisation and gender equality. Market trends indicate overall lower container port productivity due to larger ships with increased call sizes and less frequent calls; gains and losses on liner connectivity are split, influenced by geopolitics The survey results of IAPH’s most-engaged ports from around the...
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Container alliance strategies, market concentration and equality: A dynamic time warping clustering approach
In a recent study published in the scholarly journal Transport Policy, Richard Borggreve and PortEconomics member Gordon Wilmsmeier examine the evolving strategies of container shipping alliances and their implications for market concentration and equality across trade routes. The study introduces Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), a technique traditionally applied in time series analysis, to cluster global trade routes based on alliance deployment patterns. This approach enables the researchers to uncover temporal similarities and shifts in...
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Antwerp-Bruges surpasses Rotterdam in Q1 2025: a structural shift or short-term fluctuation?
In a remarkable turn of events, the port of Antwerp-Bruges has overtaken Rotterdam in container throughput during the first quarter of 2025. Antwerp-Bruges handled 3.4 million TEU, registering a year-on-year increase of 4.5%, while Rotterdam recorded 3.3 million TEU (+2.2%). PortEconomics member Theo Notteboom, reports: "This development marks the first time since 1966—the year the first container liner services arrived in Europe—that Rotterdam has not held the top spot among European container ports. Yet, the question...
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PortReport 7 | East Coast of South America-between aspirations and realities
Download PortReport 7-East Coast of South America: Between Aspirations and Realities The PortReport 7 - authored by Alejandra Gómez-Paz and PortEconomics member, Ricardo J. Sánchez, explores the evolving landscape of maritime connectivity in the East Coast of South America (ECSA), the interplay of trade demands, infrastructure development, governance, and global sustainability goals, assessing how these factors shape liner service networks. The report differentiates between accessibility—the ability to connect physically via port...
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Optimizing Asia–Europe container network: The Suez Canal and Cape of Good Hope routes in a changing world
The development of an approach for evaluating various maritime transportation routes in light of ongoing disruptions and evolving global factors, including changes in demand, fluctuations in fuel prices, geopolitical shifts, and environmental considerations is the aim of the latest portstudy of PortEconomics member Pierre Cariou along with Sadeque Hamdan (Bangor University), Dominique Feillet (Univ Clermont Auvergne), Ali Cheaitou (University of Sharjah) and Nadjib Brahimi (Rennes School of Business) For each alternative route,...
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Planning a network of marinas and tourist ports in Greece
PortEconomics members George Vaggelas and Thanos Pallis presented their latest study, "Proposals for the Development of a Network of Tourist Ports in Greece" during a special event organised by the Greek Marinas Association in Athens, Greece. Despite its extensive coastline, Greece lags in the number of organised tourist ports and marinas. Berthing capacity for yachts is less than the average availability in other European countries, with demand exceeding supply in several areas. A spatial discontinuity in the tourist port...
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PortReport 6 | Understanding risk dynamics in contemporary maritime logistics
Download PortReport No 6 – Understanding Risk Dynamics in Contemporary Maritime Logistics: A "Meteor Shower" of Challenges A real “meteor shower” of disruptive forces is currently impacting international trade and maritime logistics, fundamentally challenging conventional strategic, operational and economic paradigms. PortEconomics member Ricardo J. Sánchez and Rodolfo Sabonge explore this unprecedented complexity in their latest PortReport, where they analyse the convergence of multiple risks and facts —exogenous, endogenous,...
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Seaports in a tense geopolitical environment: key agents or sitting ducks?
In an increasingly uncertain world, seaports are no longer just logistical hubs facilitating global trade—they are becoming geopolitical focal points, caught between strategic interests, economic dependencies, and global power struggles. The geo-economic and geopolitical landscape has a major impact on seaports, which have limited control over these external factors. Geopolitical objectives and policies also have a significant impact on the strategies and operational decisions of port users. Meanwhile, the developments over the past...
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