Towards a Better Port Industry

Port Development, Management and Policy

Peter W. de Langen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781136001529
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Towards a Better Port Industry provides professionals in freight transport and maritime logistics, and specifically the port industry, as well as students in these fields, with a better conceptual understanding of the port industry. It includes key insights and best practices for port management and development, and an overview of new trends and developments relevant for developing winning strategies.

After an introduction, Chapter 2 offers a new perspective on port governance, in which public interests, corporatization, state-ownership, and shareholder policies take a central role. Chapter 3 explains how new trends and developments affect port development and argues that assuming 'business as usual' often leads to major port development mistakes. Chapter 4 deals with port development and discusses all major port development challenges, including granting concessions, developing a port vision, crafting stakeholder support, choosing port performance indicators and creating a port innovation system. The final chapter deals with port development strategies and includes themes such as strategies of port development companies, pricing and business development.

This book will broaden professionals' conceptual understanding of the ports industry, and provide insights on the latest developments in this area. For students, this book provides an industry-focused and non-technical 'essential reading' for gaining a deep understanding of the ports industry.

1Ports in global supply chains

1.1 Introduction

Seaports are indispensable nodes in the global trade system. There are more than 7,500 ports worldwide that together accommodate the vast majority of world trade volumes. While cargo-handling operations form the core of ports, modern seaports have become logistics and industrial clusters, in addition to transport nodes.

The first chapter of this book provides an overview of the role of ports in supply chains. Efficient and reliable port services are required in global supply chains. Efficient global supply chains drive world trade and more trade contributes to more prosperity. Yet there are many obstacles and challenges for port efficiency. This chapter provides a definition of ports and typologies of ports, which show the huge diversity of ports and different port types. It also discusses the major commodity flows handled in ports, such as crude oil, iron ore, coal and containers, and the throughput drivers of these commodities. Finally, this introductory chapter provides the reader an overview of the rankings of ports around the world.

1.2 Ports: often overlooked but critical nodes in global supply chains

Let’s start with a sobering remark: most people only notice ports when they do not work. Consumers take efficient intercontinental transport of the products they purchase for granted. Likewise, many multinationals heavily rely on efficient intercontinental transport, but hardly pay attention, unless a disruption threatens their supply chains.

But when a disruption occurs, ports turn out to be critical. For instance, in 2002, US President George W. Bush intervened in a labour dispute in the US West Coast ports, where labour unions blocked port operations for ten days. He argued that the national interest was at stake. Indeed, large manufacturers, including companies such as Boeing (with a main plant located nearby Seattle), had warned that they had to halt production because of the strikes. A calculation of the impact of the strike suggested an economic damage of US$2 billion per day.¹ At the time, port operations in the West Coast ports started up again, more than 200 ships were lined up outside ports waiting to unload and pick up containers and recovery of all delays took six to seven weeks. The significance of a disruption of port operations is easily understood given the dependence of the USA, like most other developed economies, on trade. For instance, about 90% of apparel bought by US consumers is imported by sea; the same applies to roughly 80% of all footwear and about 60% of all computers. As soon as the pipeline dries up because ports no longer operate, consumption goes down, with severe adverse economic effects.

In a similar c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• Preface
• About the author
• 1 Ports in global supply chains
• 2 Getting port governance right
• 3 Drivers of change in the ports industry
• 4 Port development : Concepts and insights
• 5 Strategies of port development companies
• Appendices
• References and further reading
• Index