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Stakeholder management & infrastructure development in Antwerp
Stakeholder management and path dependence in large-scale transport infrastructure development: the port of Antwerp case (1960–2010) is the theme of a new port study by PortEconomics member Michael Dooms, PortEconomics associate member Elvira Haezendonck, in collaboration with Alain Verbeke. The present study argues that the effective implementation of new, large-scale seaport infrastructure projects provides a stimulus to policy makers to engage on a path of continuous reflection on who and what matters in decision-making: the...
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Institutional plasticity and path dependence in seaports
The institutional plasticity and path dependence in seaports is the theme of a new port study by PortEconomics co-directors Theo Notteboom and Peter de Langen, in collaboration with Wouter Jacobs, associate member of PortEconomics. The study deals with path dependence in seaport governance. A central notion in this respect is lock-in. Economic geographers have recently started to reconsider the deterministic perspective on lock-in and developed the concept of institutional plasticity. Such plasticity is the result of actions of actors to...
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Trajectories of change in ports: the role of institutional frameworks
A collection of port studies that explore the changing relationship between institutional frameworks and the development of transportation nodes are included in the recently published special issue of the journal Journal of Transport Geography. The theme of this issue of the prestigious scholarly journal (vol. 27, 2013) is "Institutional Frameworks and the Transformation of Transport Nodes", with PortEconomics co-director Thanos Pallis, associate member Adolf Ng, and Prof. Peter Hall (Simon Fraser, Vancouver CA) acting as guest editors. As...
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Investigating development of dry ports in Brazil: lessons learnt
The development of dry ports in Brazil is the theme of a new port study by PortEconomics co-director Thanos Pallis, in collaboration with Adolf Ng, associate member of PortEconomics, and Flavio Padilha. Dry ports are associated with enhanced efficiency. Relieving seaport congestion without (significant) capacity expansion, dry ports are essential elements in the competitive position of seaports, as they acted to facilitate access to (overlapping) hinterlands. However, those focusing on how institutions could strengthen (or dissipate) the...
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Cruise ports: why cruises start and stop where they do
PortEconomics member Jean-Paul Rodrigue was interviewed by the Atlantic Cities website (www.atlanticcities.com) about cruise ports, an interview based on a recent research conducted with PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom on the "geography of cruises". When we think of cruises, most of us consider the luxury ships themselves as the attraction — not the ports they visit. Jean-Paul and Theo studied cruise itineraries from all over the world and found that companies pay a great deal of attention to port selection as a means of...
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Containerised freight: distribution in North America and Europe
Containerised freight distribution in North America and Europe is the theme discussed by PortEconomics members Theo Notteboom and Jean-Paul Rodrigue in a chapter published in the edited volume Handbook of Global Logistics: Transportation in International Supply Chains. The book is now published by Springer. Theo and Jean-Paul argue that it is rather uncommon for country pairs to be directly connected by shipping services. This is because the concept of "intermediacy" is increasingly important in regional or global freight...
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Port performance management system: socio-economic impacts
Their latest research on the the development of the European performance management system for seaports and in particular its application to socio-economic impacts, is the subject of the research presented by PortEconomics member Michael Dooms, along with Steven de Schepper, during this year's annual conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists - IAME 2012, that was held in Taipei, Taiwan. Performance indicators on socio-economic impacts of seaport activities are often used to support and strengthen the societal...
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Regulatory challenges for seaports
The regulatory challenges that the port sector faces was the theme of PortEconomics co-director Thanos Pallis presentation at the 1st European Maritime Transport Regulation Forum "Ports: How to Regulate Logistics Interfaces?" that was organised by the Florence School of Regulation, of the European University Institute in Florence. Thanos discussed seven different groups of (de)regulatory issues that modern ports face, and analysed the challenges and questions associated with each of these issues. During the 1st European Maritime...
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