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May 3rd, 2015
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Last month, DP World bought the Maher terminal in Prince Rupert, with a 2014 throughput of a little over 600,000 teu for more than a half billion US dollar - just under $1,000 per teu handled, comments Peter de Langen at his "The Analyst" column in Port Strategy. Two aspects of this deal are interesting. First, the price seems to indicate huge confidence in growing volumes: the terminal is to be expanded to a capacity of about 1.35m teu, with studies on the feasibility of a further expansion to about 2.5m teu. Second, the fact that the...
April 30th, 2015
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PortEconomics co-director Peter de Langen led an initiative to develop a cooperation platform to promote industry oriented research in the port of Rotterdam. Five founding partners, Port of Rotterdam Authority, the business community, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Delft University of Technology and the city of Rotterdam have committed significant resources to this initiative (see www.smart-port.nl). This initiative fits in a broader challenge: ports, as strong clusters of economic activities, have- whether they are aware of this or not- an...
April 27th, 2015
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Current heterogeneity in EU port regulation is having an impact on the competitiveness of ports. Port Authorities have to take into account a wide range of goals in order to manage the interactions with private operators responsible for port activities. Thus, some trade-offs emerge, as in some cases a revenue stream or a strategic objective for the Port Authority may imply a cost for the concessionaire. PortEconomics member Francesco Parola, along with Claudio Ferrari (University of Genova) and Alessio Tei (University of Genova), study how...
April 24th, 2015
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The variety of pricing structures is remarkable. For instance, a substantial amount of charges are paid by shippers in South Africa, contrary to most other countries. In Singapore, virtually all revenues come from port dues and virtually none from land rents in ports or charges to shippers. The opposite is true in many US and Canadian ports; here, the majority of revenues are from land lease agreements. This suggests that 'history' may be an important factor. How can pricing structures in ports be best explained? are they based on a specific...
April 21st, 2015
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By Theo Notteboom Operational co-operation between container shipping companies comes in many forms ranging from slot-chartering and vessel-sharing agreements to multi-trade strategic alliances. 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. In 1997, about 70% of the services on the main East-West trades were supplied by the four main strategic alliances. Today, four large alliances are...
April 16th, 2015
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The activities of a port authority form but one of several factors that can contribute to the competitiveness of a port. A port authority can increase its contribution by optimising the various functions it performs in a facilitating and entrepreneurial manner. Port authority reform matters in that it must set the right governance framework for port authorities to achieve their full potential contribution to the competitiveness of their ports. The objective of this study of PortEconomics associate member Patrick Verhoeven along with Eddy...
April 14th, 2015
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By Theo Notteboom Container port rankings look at individual ports. Following such an approach Shanghai is the largest container port in the world (35.28 million TEU in 2014) followed by Singapore (33.87 million TEU). Such rankings can be a bit misleading as regions with several medium-sized container ports might seem less important than regions with only one large load centre. When grouping seaports together in multiple-port regions we get a better picture of the container port handling hotspots in the world. The chart provides an...
April 14th, 2015
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By Theo Notteboom Container vessels of more than 19,000 TEU are already operational on the Europe-Far East trade. The CSCL Globe and MSC Oscar are notable examples. Ships of over 20,000 TEU have been ordered by a number of carriers such as OOCL. The chart shows the implication of a visit of such a mega vessel to the port of Antwerp or Rotterdam, two of the largest container ports in Europe. A call of a 20,000 TEU vessel is expected to result in an average call size of 8,000 TEU. Some 70% of that volume is gateway cargo, the remaining 30%...
April 7th, 2015
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By Theo Notteboom An analysis of liner services on the North Europe – Far East trade reveals that average vessel sizes have increased from 4,250 TEU in 1998 to 12,200 TEU in 2015. The number of liner services on the North Europe – Far East trade peaked in 2006 with over 30 regular services. Today just over 20 weekly services connect North Europe to the Far East. The combination of ever large container vessels combined with a relative decline in the number of ports of call per liner service results in larger call sizes. The above chart...
March 31st, 2015
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In 2014, the Panama Canal celebrated its centennial-spotlighting its legacy as an important gateway of international trade but also raising questions about its future in an increasingly integrated global economy. The Panama Canal expansion project will open a new set of locks and will complete several ancillary projects, such as dredging and widening, in early 2016 at an estimated cost of $6.2 billion. As is common with megaprojects, however, unforeseen events and cost overruns are likely to increase the final price tag. The expansion is...
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