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Why ports should be managed like airports
"An effective management model to bring down costs can be gleaned from the airport industry". That is the central argument of a viewpoint article by Peter de Langen and Periklis Saragiotis - published at the blogs page of Brookings Insitute, and PortEconomics.eu. The viewpoint: Why ports should be managed like airports Sea transport is the cheapest form of transport and more than 75 percent of international merchandise is carried by vessels. Yet, costs are still substantially higher than they should be. This is especially evident in...
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One-belt-one-road and hundreds european ports
How the One-belt-one-road (OBOR) policy might affect european port-hinterland dynamics? In 2013 Xi Jinping embarked in a strategy to “break the connectivity bottleneck” in Asia. 60 countries are already involved, with this policy impacting 4.4 billion people. In March 2015, the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiatives action plan was detailed. PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom addressed the theme during his invited presentation gave at the ESPO Conference 2016, held in 2-3 June in Dublin, Ireland. Theo also...
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Marketing strategies of Port Authorities
The evolution of clusters in modern ports, and the interrelated wave of port devolution in the 1990s, led to a redefinition of the role of each actor involved, including that of port authorities (PAs). The latter have been transformed to hybrid organisations, mostly disassociated from operational activities and port services provision, yet maintaining a key role as the managing bodies advancing the prospects of the port they manage and these of the respective clusters. Marketing is among the functions working towards this end. PortEconomics...
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GREPORT2016: Report on Greek ports
With total throughput 6.36 million tonnes of dry bulk cargo, 3.98 million TEUs, 28.23 million coastal passengers and 2.07 cruise passengers in 2014, Greek ports are important actors in local, national and regional level. In 2014, their turnover exceeded the €326 million. GREPORT 2016, the Report on Greek Ports by PortEconomics members Thanos Pallis and George Vaggelas is the first comprehensive record and analysis of the developments of the Greek port industry over the last decade. The port study, published by Port &...
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PortGraphic: dynamics in alliance formation in container shipping
By Theo Notteboom Alliances are about operational vessel-sharing co-operation between container shipping companies on multiple trade routes (mostly east-west). The first strategic alliances between shipping lines date back to the mid-1990s, a period that coincided with the introduction of the first post-Panamax containers vessels on the Europe-Far East trade. The alliance partnerships evolved as a result of mergers and acquisitions (e.g. merger between P&OCL and Nedlloyd and the take-overs by P&O Nedlloyd and SeaLand by...
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The Analyst: commercial not political decision-making
COMMENT: Port reform processes gradually lead to a port industry where port authorities remain under government ownership, but have autonomy, are financially self-sustaining and operate as port development companies, writes Peter de Langen. In this framework, these port authorities are, like many airport companies, state owned enterprises, or SOEs. The good news is that there is an increasing understanding of how and how not to manage SOEs. The bad news is that some of these insights are not being applied to the ports industry. Take the...
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The top-5 strategy errors made by ports
By Peter de Langen and Jonas Mendes Constante After many years advising companies from different sectors about creating and executing their strategic plans, we have witnessed both good and bad decisions - not necessarily in equal order. Here, we outline the five most common mistakes that port authorities and terminals companies make. First up, it is important to remember that the strategic plan is a document, not a process. A strategic plan can only create results if its goals are widely shared and incorporated by all departments, and if...
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Container port investment: the inexorable rise of financial players
Since the early-2000s, given the increasing profitability of the container port business, a number of financial investors were stimulated to both reach new market segments and enter the industry as investors. As additional financial resources have been increasingly requested from the sector to fuel greenfield mega-projects, M&A activity and the accelerated foreign expansion of international terminal operators (ITOs), financial investors increased have their effort by providing financial and technical support to both shipping...
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