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PortEconomics
  • January 26th, 2021
PortEconomics
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    An analysis of the CSR portfolio of cruise shipping lines

    An analysis of the CSR portfolio of cruise shipping lines

    Disruptions and resilience in global container shipping and ports: covid-19 pandemic vs. 2008-2009 financial crisis

    Disruptions and resilience in global container shipping and ports: covid-19 pandemic vs. 2008-2009 financial crisis

    Port funding strategies: concessions in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Port funding strategies: concessions in Sub-Saharan Africa

    European cruise ports: challenges since the pre-pandemic era

    European cruise ports: challenges since the pre-pandemic era

    What drives ports around the world to adopt air emissions abatement measures?

    What drives ports around the world to adopt air emissions abatement measures?

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    The correlation between the behaviour of ports and freight rates in Latin America and the Caribbean during the COVID19 pandemic

    The correlation between the behaviour of ports and freight rates in Latin America and the Caribbean during the COVID19 pandemic

    IAPH-WPSP barometer: one quarter of ports responding have an increased share of empty container handling

    IAPH-WPSP barometer: one quarter of ports responding have an increased share of empty container handling

    PortGraphic: top15 container ports in Europe in the first three quarters 2020

    PortGraphic: top15 container ports in Europe in the first three quarters 2020

    Video: changing demand for maritime trade

    Video: changing demand for maritime trade

    Top-15 ports in Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC): is this crisis different?

    Top-15 ports in Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC): is this crisis different?

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    PhD Opportunity: Maritime Economics -Emission control areas & French Med Ports

    PhD Opportunity: Maritime Economics -Emission control areas & French Med Ports

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    Resilience & adaptability of shipping, ports & supply chains to internal & external shocks

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    Lloyd’s maritime academy certificate in port economics by P. de Langen

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    PortEconomics members leading role in the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) reconfirmed

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    New book: towards a better port industry

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    Academic perspectives on the feasibility of mega container ships

    Academic perspectives on the feasibility of mega container ships

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    The Analyst: e-commerce, service differentiation and port operations

    Recycling supply chains and new business: experiences in Malaga

    Recycling supply chains and new business: experiences in Malaga

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    Port Transparency: a global survey

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    The UK Freeports initiative

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PortGraphic: top-15 cruise ports in the Med reveal a booming industry in challenge (video)Cruise

PortGraphic: top-15 cruise ports in the Med reveal a booming industry in challenge (video)

May 25th, 2020 Cruise, Featured, Thematic Area, Viewpoints

READ ALSO

Disruptions and resilience in global container shipping and ports: covid-19 pandemic vs. 2008-2009 financial crisis
Disruptions and resilience in global container shipping and ports: covid-19 pandemic vs. 2008-2009 financial crisis
IAPH-WPSP barometer: one quarter of ports responding have an increased share of empty container handling
IAPH-WPSP barometer: one quarter of ports responding have an increased share of empty container handling
European cruise ports: challenges since the pre-pandemic era
European cruise ports: challenges since the pre-pandemic era
An analysis of the CSR portfolio of cruise shipping lines
An analysis of the CSR portfolio of cruise shipping lines

PortStatistics of 2019 reveal the successful adaptation and growth of Med ports before the arrival of the pandemic.

Article by Thanos Pallis, Aimilia Papachristou & George Vaggelas

While cruise shipping and ports around the globe reassessing their future in the ‘new’ normal, PortEconomics is presenting you the top-15 ports in the Mediterranean Sea for the past year, 2019 as well as the trends comparing to 2018 and the evolution of cruise passenger movement since the beginning of the 2010s.

PortStatistics of 2019 reveals the successful adaptation to the demands of cruise shipping, which, in a context of a seemingly unstoppable globalization,  resulted in the remarkable growth of Mediterranean ports before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019,  the top-15 ports hosted 22.74 million passenger movements, 5.5 million more than at the beginning of the decade, and 2.5 million more than the previous year (+13%).

Barcelona exceeded for a second successive year the 3 million passenger movements threshold. Hosting 3.1 m passenger movement (+3% compared to 2018) it remained the busiest cruise port of all throughout Europe.

Three more Meditteranean cruise ports recorded more than two million passenger movements in 2019, all of them reporting an identical growth of 9%:.These are Balearic islands, Civitavecchia (+9%), and Genoa/Savona. The latter is reported in aggregate given that the two ports operate as part of the same port system authority.

Naples and Santorini are the two ports that experienced the major passenger increase in 2019

Naples and Santorini are the two ports that experienced the major passenger increase in 2019, Naples/Salerno and nearby smaller ports experienced a +36% growth, while the Greek island of Santorini hosted 31% more passengers than it had done in 2018.

The operated by Global Ports Holding Valletta port in Malta was another success story of 2019 in terms of passenger growth, as the 902,425 passengers that were hosted in 2019 represented a 27% increase. Piraeus (+14%) was the fourth port in the Meditteranean sea that experienced growth above the average growth of the ports in the list.

Evolution of Meditteranean cruise ports in the 2010s

Beyond, the PortGraphic, we have prepared a PortVideo detailing the evolution of the cruise ports industry throughout the last decade.

 

At the beginning of the decade the top-15 ports in the Med hosted just over 17 million passenger movements – that was almost triple the size of the respective number of 2000.  These numbers looked at the end of 2019 as ‘moderate’. And even the 34% growth of Barcelona port since 2010 does not impress as much as the +72 of Balearic islands within a decade, the +83% of Valetta, and the +167% of Marseille.

It is tempting to note that the three Med ports that recorded the major cruise growth of the last decade are public ports operating under different governance models, with two of them operated by specialized terminal operators.

It is also notable that among the few ports that did not see the number of hosted passengers growing were Dubrovnic (-14% when comparing 2010 with 2019), and Venice (zero growth over the last decade), are cases that experienced the rise of social and environmental concern regarding the sustainability of further growth of cruise activities.

Quo Vadis?

As commonly said, Meditteranean has managed to cruise through the storms (i.e. 9/11 at the turn of the century; financial tsunami in 2008-9, the Arab spring and geopolitical changes more recently; and not least the Costa Concordia event) and rise as the second cruise market of the world (hosting approximately 17% of the globally deployed cruise ship capacity).

Now that due to COVID-19 the storm looks the (really) ‘perfect’ one, it is worth monitoring the quickness and the innovative ways that the cruise port industry will be able to its dual target – i.e. adapt to the new conditions and address the pre-existing social and environmental challenges – and return to the growth levels experienced in the past decade.

All these as changes of the resilient cruise shipping models lie ahead -as RCCL CEO Richard Fain detailed during their recent earnings call of the company (and reported in Seatrade Cruise news), “We understand that when our ships return to service, they will be sailing in a changed world”  before continuing that ina  post-COVID-19 world: ‘Travel and tourism will grow, not by reverting to what it was, but by adjusting to a world where all activities, everything we do in the world, will have changed”.

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Previous article IAPH-WPSP Port Economic Impact Barometer for Week 21: regional differences becoming more pronounced

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Top-20 cruise ports in the Med, 2010-2019
https://vimeo.com/421473720?loop=1
Evolution of container volumes in European ports, 1985-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=7oAfZCtiPrY
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