Thierry Vanelslander

Economic impact of port activity : a disaggregate analysis. The case of Antwerp

The economic impact of the port sector is usually measured at an aggregate level by indicators such as value added, employment and investment. This paper tries to define the economic relevance for the regional as well as for the national economy at a disaggregate level. It attempts to identify, quantify and locate the mutual relationships between the various port players themselves and between them and other Belgian industries. Due to a lack of information foreign trade is only tackled very briefly but the method outlined in this paper can be used to measure the national effects of changes in port activity at a detailed level. A sector analysis is made by compiling a regional (regional as geographically opposed to national, not to be mistaken for the Belgian Regions Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) input-output table, resorting to microeconomic data: a bottom-up approach. The main customers and suppliers of the ports key players or stakeholders are identified. A geographical analysis can also be carried out by using data at a disaggregate level. Each customer or supplier can be located by means of their postcode. In so doing, the economic impact of the port is quantified, both functionally and geographically. In the case of the port of Antwerp, the results show important links between freight forwarders and agents. The geographical analysis suggests the existence of major agglomerating effects in and around the port of Antwerp, referred to as a major transhipment location point. Key words: port economics, regional input-output table, sector analysis, geographical analysis.

Environmental sustainability in seaports: a framework for successful innovation

Environmental sustainability in the port industry is of growing concern for port authorities, policy makers, port users and local communities. Innovation can provide a solution to the main environmental issues, but often meets resistance. While certain types of technological or organisational innovation can be satisfactorily analysed using closed system theories, in the case of seaports and in particular in the area of environmental sustainability, more advanced conceptual frameworks have to be considered. These frameworks need to be able to account for the multiple stakeholder nature of the port industry and of the network and vertical interactions that environmental sustainability calls for. This article investigates successful innovations improving environmental sustainability of seaports. The proposed framework builds in part on research concepts developed in the InnoSuTra EU FP7 project. From a methodological perspective, this article develops a method for quantifying the degree of success of innovation with respect to a set of specific objectives. Several case studies are used to test the framework against real innovation examples, such as onshore power supply, or alternative fuels. In this article, we argue that only those innovations that fit dynamically port actors’ demands and the port institutional environment stand a chance to succeed.

Market Power and Vertical and Horizontal Integration in the Maritime Shipping and Port Industry

The maritime sector is undergoing constant change, as is particularly apparent in the shift in competition that has unfolded in recent years. Whereas in the past shipowners and ports used to compete with one another, the competitive struggle is now increasingly unfolding at the level of logistics chains. Today, market players are selected not so much for their stand-alone competitiveness, but on the basis of whether or not they belong to a successful maritime logistics chain. This explains why certain market players are continuously trying to gain greater control over these chains, including through vertical and horizontal alliances, mergers and acquisitions. This contribution considers in greater detail these concerted efforts to increase market power through extensive integration. First, we deal with the competitive shifts that have occurred in the port and maritime arena. Subsequently, we look at the strategic behaviour exhibited by the main market players (shipowners, terminal operating companies, port authorities, logistics service providers, etc) and analyse their objectives. Finally, we assess the consequences of the strategies pursued in the context of the anticipated future scenarios.

Expansion in cargo handling: geographical and functional issues

Intense co-operation as well as severe competition are two characteristics of the current sea-port cargo-handling sector. This paper contributes to remedying the lack of understanding of the effects that such strategies may have on operating conditions in the sector. It analyses the geographical strategies pursued by the major operators up to 2006, as well as the functional directions in which co-operation is sought. It appears that most domestic ventures for the majority of container-handling operators are non-co-operative ones, except for PSA and HPH. Abroad, all of the cargo-handling operators except DPA/CSXWT have more co-operative than non-co-operative ventures. As to nationality of acquired subsidiaries, it is observed that most co-operative ventures have two nationalities involved. In terms of functional direction of operations, the major container-handling companies, except APM Terminals, start up most of their co-operative ventures with non-cargo-handling partners. Furthermore, it can be observed that HPH, APM Terminals, P&O Ports and DPA/CSXWT have started up, acquired or merged with more limited companies in cargo-handling than in non-cargo-handling activities. Most of the non-horizontal partners in cargo-handling ventures appear to be industrial or investment companies. PSAs, Eurogates and DPAs non-cargo-handling ventures predominantly are in logistics. Combining geography and functional direction graphically shows that the major operators have had very diverging strategies. The two extremes are Eurogate, with a network which is solely focused on Europe, and P&O Ports, covering all continents.

Comparison of Public–Private Partnerships in Airports and Seaports in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Abstract The paper examines similarities and differences in public–private partnership (PPP) structures between airports and seaports in low- and middle-income countries using data from the World Banks Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPIAF) database, and puts forward some hypotheses about the reasons for the differences. Qualification of the results is also made with available literature on airport and seaport PPPs. It uses eight granules — the eight “Ws” — as the basis for the analysis, comparing PPPs in terms of “What”, “When”, “Where”, “Why”, “Whole”, “Who”, “Whom”, and “Which way”. Although the similarities between port and airport PPPs generally outweigh their differences, there are several areas in which they diverge. These are the characteristics of the private-sector partner, the PPP models used, the use made of competitive tendering, and the bundling of facilities. Airport investors tend to attract a wider array of investor types than seaports, where the focus is more on specialised operators in build–operate–transfer (BOT) agreements. These differences have their roots in four main structural variations between the two industries: the level of integration of infrastructure and services, economies of scale, public service obligations, and the differing roles of competition and regulation.

Road pricing and port hinterland competitiveness: An application to the Hamburg–Le Havre range

ABSTRACT Road pricing is drawing ever greater attention, not only as a means for funding infrastructure investment, but also as a way of eliminating negative externalities associated with land-based transport. The goal is to improve the environmental sustainability of such transport while maintaining its economic viability. As road transport continues to be the most prominent mode of hinterland transportation to and from seaports, road pricing may be assumed to impact on the competitiveness of those ports. This article examines the extent to which this is the case by taking a micro-research approach. It analyzes how road pricing affects the cost functions of the various actors in the logistics chain and considers the potential impact of different setups and modalities in neighboring regions and countries.

Port and maritime governance and regulation: emerging issues

More and more, ports and the maritime chain are considered as sections of a longer logistics chain. Actors in that chain are made more aware of who ultimately decides in that chain, or for which subsections of it. It is also clear that a chain is only as strong as its weakest node or section. Therefore, all actors have an interest in the overall chain performing better, even for the sections which are out of control or reach of the specific actor in question. It is clear that for a number of decades now, shipping companies have become dominant players in the chain. Next to the shippers, who still decide in most cases about the path that the goods follow, it is the shipping companies that decide about the port(s) of call in nearly all cases, and in quite some cases also about hinterland connections. In that respect, the paper by Sys, Meersman, and Van de Voorde is highly interesting, as it looks into the power that shipping companies might have acquired through the existence and/or the formation of monopolies or oligopolies. The authors apply a non-structural method, using the Panzar and Rosse H-statistic. 18 major shipping lines are followed during a period of 10 years. In the shipping segment, not only control but also efficiency is important. Shipping companies are trying to increase their performance by putting in place an adequate number of vessels with the right size, and at the right routes. Alliance formation is one the flexible tools used to keep the necessary flexibility in deploying or re-routing vessels between routes and in time. All this should lead to lower costs per unit transported, and to larger benefits, because the markets are served better. However, not all types of shipping feature similar possibilities for optimization. Hjelle in his paper in this special issue deals with ro/ro shipping, which features a double-loading problem due to the nature of the activities. Similar to any type of maritime shipping, the main matter is to get the vessel volume filled as much as possible. Additional to this common problem, a typical issue is that the trailers that go into ro/ro vessels are not necessarily fully filled. This makes it very hard for ro/ro operators to reach efficient loading factors. At the same time, consuming more energy per unit transport not only implies higher operational costs, but also more emissions. In the case of internalization of external costs, this would become a supplementary disadvantage for ro/ro shipping. There are further factors of uncertainty, typical to specific product markets this time. Gurning and Cahoon shed light on the wheat market. They not only identify a number of maritime logistical risks involving vessel-related items, but also port and

Impact of scale increase of container ships on the generalised chain cost

In recent years, an increase in the size of the container ships could be observed. The question is how these larger ships will influence the total generalised costs from a port of loading to a destination in the European hinterland. The second question is whether a scale increase of the container ships on other loops, such as a loop from the United States to Europe, has the same impact on the generalised chain costs as on the loop from Asia to Europe. A derived question is which element of the total chain has the highest importance, and whether this balance varies as the ship size changes. In this article, a model is developed that allows answering the above research questions. The model is designed to simulate the cost of a complete loop of a container ship and of a chain that uses that same loop. For the chain cost simulation, the maritime part is determined by the loop. From the ports of loading and unloading, the port container handling and the hinterland transportation costs are also integrated. The model also allows calculating the total chain cost from a point of origin (either a hinterland region or a port) to a destination point (also a port or a hinterland region). An actual container loop of a container shipping company can be introduced in the model. An application is made to two existing container loops, namely from Asia respectively the United States to Europe. It turns out that changing ship does indeed lead to economies of scale, but also that the impact is larger on the Asia–Europe connection than on the US–Europe connection. Furthermore, the maritime component has the biggest share in the total chain cost, but as ship size increases, the shares start getting closer to each other. This research contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First of all, it quantifies the impact of the scale increase of container ships throughout the total chain. Second, this is done from a bottom-up engineering modelling approach.

City Logistics by Water: Good Practices and Scope for Expansion

Urban freight transport became a specific research topic as the general awareness on the increasing negative effects of these freight delivery activities on the local livability grows. The awareness for external costs (congestion, emissions, noise and road safety) by the public grew. As a result, (local) governments implemented specific policies. Often, these limit the free, flow of traffic, put limits on (un)loading activities and limit urban road capacity. As a result, logistics entrepreneurs innovate their last mile transport operations. An under-investigated opportunity is the use of waterways for urban freight delivery purposes. This chapter lists best practices found in Western Europe. These transport freight towards or in the city. In this chapter, a Dutch concept was translated into a specific case for the Belgian city of Ghent. A cost simulation of an urban delivery concept with an electrically-powered vessel is developed and gives us insight in the actual competitiveness. Based on our own simulation, conclusions are drawn. Further research opportunities are indicated.

Cross-sectoral comparison of concessions in transport: Urban, road and port pre-fuzzy assessment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology of comparing concession projects developed in different transport sub-sectors. The methodology is tested in the comparison of three different cases, each of which represent a particular mode of transport: a road development project, a city tramway project and a port lock construction initiative. Design/methodology/approach – A fuzzy logic approach methodology is applied in carrying out the comparison between cases. Granulation is achieved by employing a Contextual (Ws) Risk Analysis Framework, as risks constitute the basis to public private partnership (PPP) structure. Linguistic variables are then used to describe the comparative findings. Findings – The methodology presented allows for the comparison of three cases from different transport sub-sectors. Identification of similarities provides the potential to transfer experience from one sector to the other. With respect to the three cases studied, it was identified that traffic risk seems t...