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Do we really know what a “smart” port is?
By Thomas Vitsounis Is 'smart port' just a catchprase, a meaningful term, or many more? Thomas Vistiounis, addresses the issue in the inaugural article of his bi-monthly column in My Logistics e-magazine: "Whilst the title of the article is mainly provocative, it is not very far from reality. Eager to keep up with the latest trends and avoid being characterised as outdated and old-fashioned, the term "smart" port is excessively used by professionals, policy-makers and academics. But in reality, what does having a "smart" port really mean...
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Cyprus creates maritime centre in line with PortEconomics members recommendations
Cyprus is already putting into effect the first recommendations of a study by a team involving PortEconomics members Thanos Pallis and George Vaggelas, and partners, that aims to help the country rekindle growth as a shipping centre after several flat years. The study, prepared after a government tender, has put forward a five-point action plan designed to boost the island against the claims of other maritime hubs and open ship registries at a time of industry volatility and heightened competition. Blueprint for Action The recommendations...
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The Analyst: under one roof
APM Terminals has announced that it will invest more than $2bn in a new port in Nigeria, its largest single investment in a port ever. Peter de Langen through his column "The Analyst" in Port Strategy comments: "What sets this investment apart from others it has made is that APMT will develop both the container terminal and other activities. The Nigeria investment marks "a strategic shift to multi ports", said the operator. "It means we will supplement our own experience in container ports with the establishment of a free zone, an oil port...
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Transshipment hubs: connecting global and regional maritime shipping networks
By Jean-Paul Rodrigue Why Transshipment? Ideally, a passenger wishing to fly from one city to another would prefer to have a direct flight. However, this is not commonly the case unless one is using the largest airports in the world such as London, Paris. New York, Hong Kong or Dubai. Even from these airports, direct flights to a wide range of destinations would not be available. The most common reason is that there is not enough volume to justify a direct service with some level of frequency. Therefore, to cope with these constraints...
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Panama Canal: Post Panamax
By Jean-Paul Rodrigue Panama Canal nears completion on a new set of locks that are expected to impact trade and the world's economy. Explore the future of the Canal as detailed in a WPBT2 Production - containing comments by PortEconomics member Jean Paul Rodrigue. ...
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The Analyst: vying for attention
There's certainly been a lot of chatter around New York about infrastructure and about the local port authority, but most of the press, traditional media and online coverage has not been about maritime things. The biggest headlines have been garnered by plans for a new $4bn revamp of the 1960s vintage LaGuardia Airport (which, sensibly, would include a ferry link to the business areas of Manhattan), writes Barry Parker. Peter de Langen through his column "The Analyst" in Port Strategy comments: "With high profile rail fails, a new...
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Anatomy of a Port Disaster: The Tianjin Port Explosions
By Jean-Paul Rodrigue Successive explosions at the port of Tianjin, the third largest in the world in terms of tonnage and the 10th largest in terms of container volumes, resulted in deadly blasts in the Chinese port city. PortEconomics member Jean-Paul Rodrigue, describes the anatomy of the disaster - and provides his input during an inverview on the national Chinese national television (CCTV) on August 17 on this topic. "Ports are significant consumers of land involving terminal operations as well as port-centric logistics...
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Traffic decline in container ports: the exception or the new normal?
By Theo Notteboom Recently, Hamburg announced that container throughput in the Elbe port saw a decline of 6.8% in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period last year, mainly caused by a sharp decrease in the trade volumes with Russia and China. The container business is generally considered as a growth sector. Over the past decades, ports around the world have become used to welcoming traffic growth year after year. A decline in container traffic is considered as unusual. But how often have ports reported cargo losses over the...
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