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European ports: nine take aways from 2016
PortEconomics waves goodbye to 2016, with its co-director Theo Notteboom, summarising the nine 'take aways' of the year for European Ports By Theo Notteboom Take away 1. Volume recovery please The year 2016 will go in history as another year of sluggish cargo volume growth. A few European ports present rather healthy growth figures, but the vast majority faces a very weak or even negative growth. In 2015, the cargo tonnage handled in the entire European port system was still 4.6% below the 2008 volumes. The first estimates for...
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Unveiling the critical elements for attracting homeport traffic
Trying to exploit the significant benefits associated with homeporting, several cruise ports are mobilised to establishing homeport operations. This goal is subject to a variety of factors, both internal and external one. A new port study by PortEconomics member George Vaggelas, co-authored by Spyros Niavis (University of Thessaly), defines the parameters and elements that affect the potential of a cruise port to become a homeport. The study, published in the third issue of first volume of the scholarly journal Maritime Business...
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European ports policy: Historic day as european parliament adopts ports regulation
The European Parliament adopted today a report on the Regulation establishing a framework for the organisation of port services and financial transparency of ports presented by the rapporteur MEP Knut Fleckenstein. The port Regulation was approved the agreement reached in that respect with the Commission and Council last summer with 546 votes in favour, 140 against, 22 abstentions. This vote makes an end to the Port Package saga that started 15 years ago. The proposal was originally put forward in 2013 but stalled due to the European...
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Integration between port and airport terminals
By Jean-Paul Rodrigue Conventionally, ports and airports are not considered to be integrated since they service different supply chains, namely high value goods for air transport and bulk commodities for maritime transport. Maritime and air cargo were typically incompatible, implying that port and airport operations were planned separately. Their location only coincided because they both service large metropolitan markets and need to be well connected to road transport systems. While this assertion is still valid, several changes took...
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EU port services directive reaches final stage: european parliament's view (video)
European ports policy update: On Monday, December 12th, the plenary session of the European Parliament discussed the report of MEP Knut Fleckenstein on the Port Regulation. The report follows extensive negotiations between the European Parliament and representatives of the European Council and the Commission over a policy initiative that had been published by the European Commission in 2013. Last March, the European Parliament voted in favour of a revised EU Ports Services Regulation (PSR) aiming to make European ports more...
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The search for a better global connectivity: the case of OBOR
Investments in infrastructure outside the EU and its impact on trade flows and existing capacities; the strengths and weaknesses of the existing EU infrastructure network; opportunities deriving from connections to non-EU networks; EU requests from neighbouring and non-EU countries before committing to common projects; and the impact of One-Belt-One-Road (OBOR) on the existing TEN-T network, were all among the issues that PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom put forward during his keynote speech at the Second Annual...
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Cruise ports expand activities caring about performance, economic impact and users satisfaction
By Thanos Pallis Cruise ports in the Mediterranean and its adjoining seas continue to adapt to new levels of demand, hosting bigger cruise vessels and seeking ways to accompany the contribution of cruising to port-cities and local communities with positive experiences for all their users. Celebrating 20 years of MedCruise surveyed the practices applied by MedCruise port members to further advance their cruise businesses. As detailed in the celebratory publication ‘Ports Together’, these strategies are associated extensively with...
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The Analyst: value in port clusters
By Peter de Langen It is increasingly understood that ports are spatial clusters of interrelated economic activities, such as chemical plants, energy plants, construction plants (for instance for components of offshore wind installations), warehouses, and terminals as well as a variety of business services Huge synergies arise from the co-location of such interrelated companies in ports areas. Many of these benefits arise ‘spontaneously’, for example, the Siemens plant for blades in the port of Hull will use port facilities for receiving...
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