The paper explores the evolving relationship between the port and terminal industry and the financial sector. Since the financial industry has taken an active role in global economic affairs, understanding global trade and transportation requires more than ever a perspective about financial issues and their impacts on transport operations. Paradoxically, the recent analytical emphasis on the st…
In many countries around the world, governments and public port authorities have retreated from port operations in the belief that enterprise-based port services and operations would allow for greater flexibility and efficiency in the market (through more competition) and a better response to consumers’ demands. In this new environment, the awarding of port terminals to private operators …
This paper examines the recent concession of the Port of Piraeus (OLP) container terminal to Cosco Pacific. Serious discussions on how to transform the terminal to landlord status started in 2004 and, after an aborted tender, a concession award was approved by the Greek parliament in 2009. The contract is now operational after strong opposition by the port unions and a renegotiation phase in 20…
The 2008 credit crunch and the subsequent economic crisis ended a period that lasted over two decades wherein international seaports around the globe experienced double-digit volume increases. This chapter provides an analysis of the structural effects that the crisis has on seaports, focusing mostly on developments in Europe. It does so via an examination of (a) the crisis implication for each…
Many research works on dry ports, associated dry ports with enhanced seaport efficiency, relieving congestion without (significant) capacity expansion. Also, they posited how dry ports being essential elements in the competitive position of seaports, as they acted to facilitate access to (overlapping) hinterlands. However, those focusing on how institutions could strengthen (or dissipate) the b…