Assessing the Attractiveness of Ports in the North European Container Transhipment Market: An Agenda for Future Research in Port Competition

Persistent development in global trade has significantly increased the demand for liner shipping, of which the industry is now being characterised by larger vessel size, comprehensive geographical coverage and frequent restructuring of shipping lines like transhipment. In turn, this has led to tense port competition, and port attractiveness is playing a pivotal role in this aspect. Understanding this and using container transhipment as a case study, this paper investigates the attractiveness of the major ports in Northern Europe acting as transhipment hubs. Through a Likert-style questionnaire directed towards the top 30 shipping lines, it was found that Hamburg and Rotterdam are the most attractive options acting as transhipment hubs within Northern Europe, with Antwerp and Bremerhaven closely behind. Felixstowe and Le Havre are the least attractive options requiring substantial improvements to change the current situation. In general, the opinion of shipping lines in port attractiveness seems to be in accordance to their decisions on transhipment hub choices. It is believed that this paper can shed some light on the attractiveness of major North European ports and the methodology of assessing port attractiveness, as well as providing a springboard for further research related to port competition.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100158
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13881973
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Copyright © 2006 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
• Authors:
  • Ng, Koi Yu Adolf
• Publication Date: 2006-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 234-250
• Serial:
  • Maritime Economics & Logistics
  • Volume: 8
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
  • ISSN: 1388-1973
  • EISSN: 1476-0592
  • Serial URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/41278

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Competition; Container terminals; Globalization; Hubs; Mode choice; Ports; Ship lines
• Geographic Terms: Antwerp (Belgium); Bremerhaven (Germany); Hamburg (Germany); Northern Europe; Rotterdam (Netherlands)
• Subject Areas: Economics; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01606225
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 27 2016 11:16AM