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China’s investments in seaports along the maritime silk road
by Thanos Pallispublished in Naftemporiki (ed). Focus on Shipping, 28 Sept, 2023 Chinese investments in European seaports have increased rapidly in the 21st century. This increase is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – in particular, its maritime component, the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) – and is among the economic and geopolitical effects of China’s growing role in global affairs. Seaports are crucial pivots connecting a national economy with the world economy. Historically, however, China was a land power;...
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As expected, large containerships are arriving in Latin America
By Ricardo J. Sánchez, Daniel E. Perrotti & Ma. Alejandra Gómez-Paz Fort In the business of containerised cargo international logistics, which connects domestic and global economies, the ships' sizes have direct implications in the decision-making process for logistics and trade. Business, financial, operational, and public decisions on infrastructure, logistics services, and territorial planning partly revolve around issues such as the size and technology of ships and the allocation of resources that shipping companies decide for...
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IAPH World Ports Tracker Q2 2023: more port calls with less cargo, truck driver shortages appear; overall liner trade connectivity improves
IAPH has released its fifth edition of the World Ports Tracker for quarter 2 of 2023, which contains the most comprehensive situation report on economic activity by ports themselves, as well as by using S&P Global container market intelligence data and now UNCTAD-MDST’s liner shipping connectivity index, both on container trade trends. PortEconomics co-directors Theo Notteboom and Thanos Pallis are the authors of the IAPH World Ports Tracker included in the analysis of UNCTAD-MDST Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) on top of the...
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The Analyst: Amsterdam’s bold move on cruise may be a missed opportunity to promote sustainable cruise tourism
By Peter de Langen Amsterdam’s city council has approved a plan to ban cruise from Amsterdam’s city center. Another bold move from a port that some years ago took the decision to phase out the handling of coal by 2030. While I was (in a previous column in Port Strategy) and continue to be positive about the decision on coal, in my view the ban on cruise is shortsighted. For very understandable reasons, Amsterdam aims to reduce the negative impacts associated with tourism. But negative effects from tourism are not a given, and they...
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Top-15 European container ports, H1 2023
PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom provides insight on the EU container port landscape in the first half of 2023: Most top 15 #container #ports in the #European #Union show a moderate to strong year-on-year decline in TEU throughput in H1 2023. For quite a few ports, these negative figures come on top of the traffic losses incurred in 2022. The economic slowdown is reflected in the handled container volumes. Only Piraeus and Gioia Tauro show a TEU growth. Ports of Genoa and Algeciras recorded a small drop. A traffic loss of 5.6%...
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Container terminal automation: assessment of drivers and benefits
PortEconomics members Geraldine Knatz, Theo Notteboom, and Thanos Pallis' latest portstudy identifies and analyzes the relative importance of the multi-faceted factors that drive the decision to automate container terminals and the realized benefits, thus establishing how accurately terminal operators predicted the benefits of automation. The authors' empirical analysis relies on a survey-based approach and the input of senior representatives of terminal operating entities in charge of the fully and semi-automated container terminals. The...
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Americas 1H2023: Is port activity accelerating or decelerating?
By Ricarod J Sanchez The world economy continues to show signs, sometimes contradictory, of both recovery and decline, which extend over time. Uncertainty and volatility have become part of normalcy because of a succession of crises. The pandemic crisis was a human, social and economic scourge of enormous magnitude at a planetary level, and its effects have yet to disappear completely. Moreover, the health emergency was compounded by the intensity of climate phenomena -such as the recent droughts-, the growing geopolitical tensions,...
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ESG in ports: transparency and integrity
Transparency of port governance is an integral part of the implementation of ESG practices in the port sector, advocated Thanos Pallis during a presentation delivered at the Symposium on “ESG and the Port Industry” that was held on the 21st of June in Piraeus, Greece Thanos presentation explored “The transparency of port governance” and detailed major findings of the scholarly research that he has recently concluded and published with fellow PortEconomics members Geraldine Knatz, Mary Brooks and Gordon Wilmsmeier, on the transparency...
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