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Toward green container liner shipping: joint optimization of heterogeneous fleet deployment, speed optimization, and fuel bunkering
Container liner shipping companies, under the international shipping carbon reduction indicators proposed by the International Maritime Organisation, must transform two key aspects: technology and operations. PortEconomics member Theo Notteboom, along with Yuzhe Zhao, Zhongxiu Peng (Dalian Maritime University), Jingmiao Zhou (Dalian University of Foreign Languages), Yiji Ma (Dalian Maritime University) defined a green liner shipping problem (GLSP) that integrates the deployment of a heterogeneous fleet, speed determination, and fuel...
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Newly-upgraded IAPH World Ports Tracker identifies major sustainability and market trends
World ports are executing on planned infrastructure investments, community building and environmental sustainability initiatives. Important gaps have been identified in future fuels readiness, carbon emissions reporting, digitalisation and gender equality. Market trends indicate overall lower container port productivity due to larger ships with increased call sizes and less frequent calls; gains and losses on liner connectivity are split, influenced by geopolitics The survey results of IAPH’s most-engaged ports from around the...
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The box that makes the world go around: container terminals and global trade
Read a interting viewpoint titled "The Box that Makes the World Go Round: Container Terminals and Global Trade" by PortEconomics member Jean-Paul Rodrigue for Cornerstone, the annual report of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University.Find the viewpoint here (page 38).
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Container alliance strategies, market concentration and equality: A dynamic time warping clustering approach
In a recent study published in the scholarly journal Transport Policy, Richard Borggreve and PortEconomics member Gordon Wilmsmeier examine the evolving strategies of container shipping alliances and their implications for market concentration and equality across trade routes. The study introduces Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), a technique traditionally applied in time series analysis, to cluster global trade routes based on alliance deployment patterns. This approach enables the researchers to uncover temporal similarities and shifts in...
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Antwerp-Bruges surpasses Rotterdam in Q1 2025: a structural shift or short-term fluctuation?
In a remarkable turn of events, the port of Antwerp-Bruges has overtaken Rotterdam in container throughput during the first quarter of 2025. Antwerp-Bruges handled 3.4 million TEU, registering a year-on-year increase of 4.5%, while Rotterdam recorded 3.3 million TEU (+2.2%). PortEconomics member Theo Notteboom, reports: "This development marks the first time since 1966—the year the first container liner services arrived in Europe—that Rotterdam has not held the top spot among European container ports. Yet, the question...
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Optimizing Asia–Europe container network: The Suez Canal and Cape of Good Hope routes in a changing world
The development of an approach for evaluating various maritime transportation routes in light of ongoing disruptions and evolving global factors, including changes in demand, fluctuations in fuel prices, geopolitical shifts, and environmental considerations is the aim of the latest portstudy of PortEconomics member Pierre Cariou along with Sadeque Hamdan (Bangor University), Dominique Feillet (Univ Clermont Auvergne), Ali Cheaitou (University of Sharjah) and Nadjib Brahimi (Rennes School of Business) For each alternative route,...
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Seaports in a tense geopolitical environment: key agents or sitting ducks?
In an increasingly uncertain world, seaports are no longer just logistical hubs facilitating global trade—they are becoming geopolitical focal points, caught between strategic interests, economic dependencies, and global power struggles. The geo-economic and geopolitical landscape has a major impact on seaports, which have limited control over these external factors. Geopolitical objectives and policies also have a significant impact on the strategies and operational decisions of port users. Meanwhile, the developments over the past...
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Container throughput at Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges: A growing rivalry
Theo Notteboom, PortEconomics co-director, analyses the evolution of container throughput at Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges over the past five decades and reveals a significant shift in European port dynamics. While Rotterdam has historically been the dominant container hub, Antwerp-Bruges has steadily increased its share, now nearly matching Rotterdam’s volume. As Theo Notteboom analyses: "The ports of Rotterdam (NL) and Antwerp-Bruges (BE) are situated in the Rhine-Scheldt Delta, the most significant multi-port region in Europe in terms...
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