Many countries in Africa and Asia have coastlines that present opportunities for them to become gateways for trade between the hinterlands and global trading routes. However, policy makers struggle to translate this potential into engines of economic development and social transformation.
In the past 40 years, China has taken advantage...
PortEconomics co-director Peter de Langen wrote a policy report to help shape port policies in Brazil. The report ‘Productive Arrangements in Container Logistics: Policy Challenges for Granting Terminal Concessions’, was commissioned by the leading Brazilian terminal operator BTP, and written, in full independence, by Peter de...
By Giovanni Prati, CNN
How this technology could shake up logistics at major ports
Dubai (CNN) In Dubai's Jebel Ali port, a new technology is being tested that aims to speed up, improve and automate the way shipping containers are stored, moved and shipped.
Typically, at major ports, shipping containers awaiting transport are...
A stream of recent announcements suggests that a global market for storing and utilising carbon is emerging, comments Peter de Langen.
Carbon can be captured from industrial processes like producing oil refi neries, ethanol production or turning gas or coal into chemicals (such capture is relatively cheap) and from power plants (for...
Two reviews of Towards a Better Ports Industry, by PortEconomics co-director Peter de Langen
The book Towards a Better Ports Industry, written by PortEconomics co-director Peter de Langen was published last year. Recently, two reviews of the book, which is aimed at students and industry professionals, were published in academic...
Drug crime has been present in ports for centuries and is unlikely to ever go away, writes Peter de Langen.
In some ports, like Rotterdam and Antwerp, much more attention has been given to drug crime recently. It is increasingly clear that workers in various activities, such as terminals, container depots and warehouses...
Maritime freight flows are the result of past supply chain design choices - if companies design global supply chains this results in global freight flows, comments Peter de Langen.
Supply chain design choices generally lead to investments (in assets, partnerships and the like) and thus cannot be changed overnight. Hence, the current...
On goes the wave of mergers of port development companies, this time between the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge, writes The Analyst Peter de Langen.
The merger has been long in the making, in contrast with some other cases, where the initiative came from the ports themselves (for instance the nearby Ghent and Zeeland Seaports merger...
By Peter de Langen
The French Haropa ports, Le Havre, Rouen and Paris are steadily implementing the full merger announced over two years ago; the final step should be ready June this year. As an important part of the integration, they recently published a strategic plan until 2025. The plan is an interesting read and clearly...
The reduction of Greenhouse gasses (GHG) and other air emissions represents a major challenge for ports. Ports so far have only taken limited steps to this end, but there are large differences between ports.
PortEconomics members Henrik Sornn Friese, Peter de Langen, and co-authors René Taudal Poulsen and Agnieszka Urszula...