PortStudies
PortStudies
PortStudies
The Nicaragua canal project revisited
The construction of an interoceanic canal in Nicaragua is a longstanding controversy that goes back to the late 19th century when the US had plans to construct the canal but in the end decided to develop the Panama Canal instead. The plans for the construction of the Nicaragua Canal have resurfaced in recent years. In September 2012, a newly formed private Chinese enterprise, the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Group (HKND), proposed a five-year construction plan at a cost of 50 billion U.S. dollars and signed a memorandum of...
PortStudies
Port state control in the EU: do inspectors' number & background matter?
The succession of maritime accidents in the last decades of the 20 century caused a strong political and public outcry for more stringent maritime safety regulations and measures. One of the most significant developments in this regard was the establishment of several regional agreements on Port State Control (PSC) – the first of which was the Paris MoU – with the specific objective of fighting substandard shipping through coordinated and harmonised inspection procedures. PortEconomics member Pierre Cariou along with Armando...
PortStudies
Green practices in port authority management
Port management is one of the most important economic pillars in maritime countries, where business players – such as port authorities, shippers, carriers, terminals, etc. - are called to undertake a virtuous process of economic development, respectful of the environment. This means achieving a sustainable growth, supported by green actions for environmental protection to improve corporate social responsibility. PortEconomics member Francesco Parola - along with Marcello Risitano, Alessandra Turi and Marco Ferretti (University of Naples...
PortStudies
PortReport 2 | Caribbean container port catchment areas: 1998-2016 evolution and the risk of over-investment
Download PortReport No 2- Caribbean container port catchment areas: 1998-2016 evolution and the risk of over-investment Almost from its inception, there has been a clear upward trend in the disruptive force of the container during its use. However, a relative decrease in container movement has been seen in recent years although the explanation of which goes beyond disturbances in the world economy. PortEconomics member Ricardo Sanchez along with Eliana Barleta notice that the inter-annual change in throughput with respect to changes in GDP...
PortStudies
Strategy formulation of new generation ports: the Hong-Kong case
In 1992, UNCTAD outlined a three-generation model to classify different stages that the port industry has experienced. It illustrates that port evolution is not a linear progress but periodically with key events to re-start every stage. An important research question emerges on whether the port industry has involved to the new generation or not after more than two decades of development. To provide useful insight into this research question, PortEconomics member Adolf Ng along with Kennth H. Wong (Hutchison Port Holdings, Hong Kong,...
PortStudies
Emission control taxes in different port competition and co-operation settings
Using a game theory approach, the latest port study of PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom and Cui Han (University of Antwerp, Belgium) analyses a situation in which the government imposes a certain emission tax on vessels and port operations for emission control in port areas. Two ports are considered: a purely private port and a landlord (partial public) port. These two ports are in Cournot or Bertrand competition or cooperation with differentiated service. The authors' model outcomes lead to the following conclusions. First, the...
PortStudies
Cruise lines searching for legitimacy: Stakeholder relationship management and CSR reporting
The rapid growth of the cruise industry since the beginning of the ‘90 has stimulated the ongoing debate on its positive and negative impacts at economic, social and environmental level. Under multiple stakeholder pressure, leading international cruise companies have re-shape their communication strategies by fostering their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) attitude to successfully manage stakeholders and support their corporate strategies. Grounding on stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory, the paper addresses cruise lines’ CSR...
PortStudies
“Slow port studies” - on the future of maritime economics
Celebrating 25 years since the establishment of the Association, the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) Annual Conference organised a special opening session to discuss the future of maritime and port economics. PortEconomics co-director Thanos Pallis presented a call for a more measured pace port studies development and dissemination. PortEconomics invites its readers to follow the link in order to download the call – and, not least, to apply the concept: Pallis A.A. (2017): Slow port studies. IAME 2017, Kyoto,...
PortStudies