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UNCTAD releases review of maritime transport 2016
UNCTAD published today the 2016 edition of Review of Maritime Transport, a recurrent publication prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat since 1968 with the aim of fostering the transparency of maritime markets and analysing relevant developments. In one of its sections – Chapter 4, Review of Maritime Transport 2016 sets out to describe the work of UNCTAD in helping developing countries improve port performance in order to lower transport costs and achieve better integration into global trade. The Review explores new datasets in port...
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Demand, supply and markets: challenges and opportunities in the shipping business
By Jan Hoffman The UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2016 has been launched this week. This year, we have placed a special focus on “Challenges and Opportunities for Developing Countries”. Here are a few selected personal picks: Demand We have a new geography of trade, which can be depicted quite nicely with our data on seaborne trade. Developing countries are no longer just the suppliers of high volume/ low value raw materials, but instead now also import large volumes of oil, iron ore, coal et al, participating in global...
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PortGraphic: alliances in container shipping-impact of Korean/Japanese carrier dynamics
By Theo Notteboom Since 2015 four alliances are operational in the container shipping market: 2M, Ocean Three, CKY(H)E and G6. The merger of China Shipping and Cosco to form China Cosco Container Lines (COSCOCS) and the acquisition of APL/NOL by CMA CGM were the first major market changes signalling major changes in the current alliance structure. By Q2 of 2017, the new alliance landscape would include the 2M alliance and two new large-scale alliances, i.e. the Ocean Alliance and THE Alliance. In the past few months the container...
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Using tariff data for port economic impact analysis of cargo movement
Which categories of port industry revenues directly support the movement of goods? Port tariffs (charges) can be used to identify expenditures on services that are essential to moving cargo through port systems - and this is the theme of the latest port study of PortEconomics member Grace Wang, co-authored with Wen-Huei Chang (US Army Corp of Engineers), Yue Cui (Michigan State University). Conversion factors were developed to standardize port tariffs and build expenditure profiles based on these standardized charges. Case studies...
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Port governance reform and institutional plasticity: insights from the Italian case
The Italian port case, as it constitutes a sound empirical field for achieving a deeper understanding of the impact of multi-scalar embeddedness that originates at both national and local level is the latest port study of PortEconomics members Francesco Parola and Giovanni Satta co-authored with Claudio Ferrari, Enrico Musso (University of Genoa) and Alessio Tei (Newcastle University). Τhe study presented at the annual Conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME 2016) held in Hamburg, Germany. In particular,...
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What is the future for small container ports?
By Jason Monios As container ships grow ever larger to achieve greater economies of scale and hence cost savings, ports expand to be able to handle them. This expansion occurs both in terms of the physical size of berths and the speed and efficiency of handling the large drops of containers that must be moved in and out of the port gate and through the hinterland. Port systems evolve according to these trends, resulting in a concentration of container movements at a handful of hub ports within each range, and flows are then feedered to...
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The Analyst: sense of green port dues
By Peter de Langen In a recent academic conference in Hamburg, various papers addressed differentiated port dues for green ships partly to address the European Commission’s evident favouritism of such an approach, writes Peter de Langen. While the idea is appealing, port policy makers may be overly enthusiastic about their potential impact while ports may see this as a relatively easy way to demonstrate their commitment to the environment. However, the impact of differentiated port dues may be limited for a number of reasons. Port dues...
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“Many EU port investment ineffective & unsustainable” says European Court of Auditors
"A third of EU spending on facilities such as quays, docks and breakwaters at EU seaports between 2000 and 2013 was ineffective and unsustainable", according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors. The European Court of Auditors issued a report on port investments within the bloc, and its findings were rather disappointing. One euro in three spent on the projects examined (€194 million) went on projects which duplicated existing facilities nearby. €97 million was invested in infrastructure which was either unused or...
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