Port Systems in Global Competition : Spatial-Economic Perspectives on the Co-Development of Seaports

In a world where most international trade is carried by sea, each port can be seen as a unique chokepoint competing to attract ever more traffic and economic activities. However, ports can also be seen as parts of a wider system, which can be defined as a system of two or more ports located in proximity within a given area. Their fate and governance is jointly influenced when belonging to the same region, country, or transnational space. Investments, shocks, innovations, and delays occurring in one port often affect other ports within a certain spatial range and time lapse. Further understanding of such co-developments in port systems is necessary to go beyond local specificities, through a multidisciplinary and multi-level contribution.

Port Systems in Global Competition is an answer to the strong and urgent need for reviewing the relevant theories, concepts, methods, and sources that can be mobilized for the analysis of port systems. With contributions from reputable scholars coming from no less than 11 countries in Europe, Asia, and North America, this book delves into the analysis of port systems from diverse disciplinary angles (geography, regional science, economics, management, engineering, and mathematics/computer sciences), covering innovative empirical approaches to various port systems in the world. The theoretical and empirical knowledge can support and enhance decision-making in relation with the development of ports, supply chains, and transport networks in general.

This book is an ideal companion to academics and upper-level students interested in the analysis of transport and economic systems in general, as well as the effective ways to answer complex issues in transportation and socio-economic development. It will be a valuable resource for those researching or studying transportation and supply chains, maritime and port economics, as well as regional development and human geography.

César Ducruet, geographer, is Senior Researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). He is currently working at the EconomiX laboratory (Paris-Nanterre) on the local impact of contemporary maritime globalization. His research focuses on technological innovation, connectivity, employment, vulnerability, environment, and health issues in a port and port-city context. He is Principal Investigator of the ANR-funded research project “Maritime Globalization, Network Externalities and Transport Impacts on Cities” (MAGNETICS) (2023–2026). César has been expert for various international organizations (OECD, World Bank, WHO) and works regularly with numerous partners in Asia (Korea Maritime Institute, JETRO, ASEM, Chinese Academy of Sciences, ECNU, Fudan University, Shanghai Maritime University). His publications include two edited volumes on Maritime Networks (2015) and Shipping Data Analysis (2017) in the Routledge Studies in Transport Analysis. He is also associate member of porteconomics.eu, scientific board member of SFLOG, GIS Axe Seine, GDR OMER, RETE Association, international advisory board member of PortCityFutures, and editorial board member of the Journal of Transport Geography, Maritime Business Review, the International Journal of Transport Economics, and Portus.

Theo Notteboom is Professor of port and maritime economics. He is Chair Professor ‘North Sea Port’ at Maritime Institute of Ghent University, and a professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Antwerp and Antwerp Maritime Academy. He previously held positions as Professor and Foreign Expert at universities in Dalian and Shanghai, China, and as MPA Visiting Professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is Vice-President (2022-ongoing) and past President (2010–2014) of International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME). He is Co-founder and Co-director of Porteconomics.eu and Member of the Risk and Resilience Committee of International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH). He is Associate Editor of Maritime Economics & Logistics and a member of the editorial boards of eight other leading academic journals in the field. He published over 160 papers in first-tier academic journals and another 400 publications in the form of reports and contributions to books, proceedings, and specialized press. He is Editor/Author of a dozen of academic books, including the handbook Port Economics, Management and Policy (Notteboom, Pallis & Rodrigue, 2022; Routledge). He is one of the most cited maritime economists in the world. Theo Notteboom has been involved as promoter or co-promoter in more than 100 academic research programs on the port and maritime industry and logistics topics.