Viewpoints
Viewpoints
Viewpoints
PortGraphic: economic crisis and ports - the greek case
By George Vaggelas The Greek economy is going through the eighth year of economic recession as the economic crisis in Greece started at the end of 2008 and continues today. In this environment, Greek ports tried to respond to a series of challenges such as the reduction in consumption in the internal market, the reduction in the competitiveness of the Greek economy as well as some inherent challenges such as the resuction of ports personnel. The PortGraphic outlines how Greek ports (and more specifically the 12 ports operating as Societe...
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Using information and making more of existing infrastructure
By Jonas Constante According to a recent report by the consulting firm Mckinsey & Co, across Europe as a whole, infrastructure congestion costs 1% of GDP. In 2013, globally, $400 billion a year could be saved by making more of existing infrastructure through improved demand management and maintenance. The digitalization can create value for private and public stakeholders involved in the logistic port sector through various initiatives, among which we highlight: i) eGovernment and the creation of administrative single...
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Thoughts to share: Why and how to measure port performance?
How to measure port performance? Logistics performance is a strong determinant of national economic competitiveness. Understanding and decomposing the components of logistics performance can help countries to improve efficiency of logistics systems as well as the functioning of related infrastructures, services, procedures and regulations. A sound and comprehensive set of national-level performance indicators is critical for high-level policy dialogue, preparation and implementation. Invited to participate in the Roundtable on Logistics...
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PortGraphic: big vessels are not, yet, calling Black Sea ports
By Thanos Pallis Within the first 15 years of the 21st century cruise passenger movements in the Black See ports increased remarkably, the cruise ports in the region hosted in 2014 a total of 204.351 cruise passenger movements and 359 cruise vessel calls. Fifteen years earlier, just 55.237 cruise passenger movements were recorded at the very same ports, with the number of cruise calls standing at just 87 calls in aggregate. The PortGrafic presents a distinctive feature of cruise development in the region: Contrary to what has happened in...
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Dutch and Belgian container ports in 2015: mixed results, mixed feelings
By Theo Notteboom The current volatility in the container business is very visible when looking at the results of the container ports in the Rhine-Scheldt Delta, the largest container port region in Europe in volume terms and ranked 6th worldwide. Dutch and Belgian ports together handled 23.54 million TEU in 2015 or just 0.45% more than in 2014. Rotterdam continues to monopolize the Dutch container port system handling 12.23 million TEU in 2015, a small decline of 0.51% compared to 2014. Amsterdam handled a modest 51,634 TEU in 2015...
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Dubai: logistics at the crossroads
By Jean-Paul Rodrigue In last two decades, Dubai emerged as a world class logistical platform, a role which is in part attributed to its geographical location at the crossroads of major trade routes between Asia, Europe, South Asia and East Africa. This role began to take shape in the 1960s when the growing availability of capital derived from oil exports in neighboring countries led to initial infrastructure investments, such as the first modern port facilities (Port Rashid) completed in 1971. These facilities were further expanded with...
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Latin America and the Caribbean: big vessels are here, the time left to act is shrinking...
In 2011, the time span of the appearance of vessels averaging 13,000 TEU in South America was projected to be between 2016 and 2020 . The great news was that on December 18, 2015, TCBuen, the Colombian terminal belonging to the Port of Buenaventura, received the largest container vessel ever to have operated in South America: the Maersk Edinburgh. Part of the AC2 service, this vessel is intended to connect China and South Korea with the Pacific Coast of Latin America, has a capacity of 13,102 TEU and measures 367 meters long and 48.2 meters...
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Viewpoints: the most popular in 2015
PortEconomics is celebrating the ending of the year recapping the articles that have captured the interest of the visitors of our web initiative so far for 2015. As measured by Google Analytics the list of the top-5 viewpoints presented at PortEconomics in 2015 are: 1. Are mega-ships such an imposition? The OECD report on the effects on mega-ships provides valuable insights for all players in the port industry. Peter de Langen focuses on an important flaw in the report: the suggestion that mega ships impose infrastructure costs on the...
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