Tariff Reform in the Port of Piraeus: a Practical Approach

This paper gives an overview of the main elements of the tariff reform that took place in the port of Piraeus during the last decade. The process of ‘structural’ revisions in many of the port's tariffs took place mainly between 1996 and 2001, which is the period during which, among other developments, container traffic through Piraeus more than doubled. Focusing on the above period and on container tariffs, the paper highlights the motivation for the changes and some of the practical difficulties associated with the process of port rate making in this major Mediterranean port. The tariff reform in some eight other categories that took place in that period is also briefly outlined, and some success and failure stories are described. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2005) 7, 356–381. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100143

An Application of AHP on Transhipment Port Selection: A Global Perspective

The research presented in this paper applies the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to reveal and analyse transhipment port selection by global carriers. In all, 47 relevant service attributes were recorded from a literature review. Two rounds of Delphi surveys – followed by brainstorming sessions – were conducted among experts in industry and academia, in order to narrow their number to four main service attributes/criteria comprising 12 sub-criteria. An AHP designed questionnaire survey was distributed to 20 port users, which covered the total population of global ocean container operators, and to 20 transhipment service providers (port operators/authorities). The results of the AHP analysis revealed that both global container carriers and port service providers had a similar perception of the most important service attributes for transhipment port selection. However, the AHP weight ranking of the sub-criteria involved was not identical between the two surveys, providing scope for further adaptation of service providers to users' priorities. Differences in the performance ranking of six major container ports by global carriers, as revealed in the AHP survey, were then combined with the calculated weights for the 12 transhipment port selection sub-criteria to explore critical attributes where transhipment market strategy could focus. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2004) 6, 70–91. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100093

Understanding Port Choice Behavior—A Network Perspective

Network-connectivity index, NICE model, Port choice, Port competitiveness,

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. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2006) 8, 234–250. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100158

An analysis of carriers’ selection criteria when choosing container terminals in Pakistan

This paper presents the results of an empirical study conducted by distributing questionnaires to shipping agents working for foreign principals in Karachi, Pakistan. In Part A of the questionnaire, respondents gave a score reflecting the importance of 13 factors affecting terminal selection. Their responses indicate that service quality, loading/discharging rate and handling charges are the most important selection factors. A linear model is developed in which the dependent variable is total stay (in hours). The independent variables are vessel type, vessel size, total TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), vessel frequency and past visits of the shipping line. All the coefficients are significant. In the second section (that is, Part B of the questionnaire), respondents gave scores reflecting the quality of different attributes and how they affect the attractiveness of four specific container terminals. One-way ANOVA was used to test whether respondents have significant opinion differences. The result indicated that respondents do differ in opinions. Moreover, factor analysis of the aggregate data produced two factors with strong loading of six attributes in one factor and two attributes in the second. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2009) 11, 270–288. doi:10.1057/mel.2009.8

Port Selection and Multicriteria Analysis: An Application to the Montreal-New York Alternative

In this paper, our goal is to assess whether the accepted rationale of port selection by shipping lines – based on the combined importance of quality of infrastructures, cost, service and geographical location – is useful to account for the selection behaviour observed in the Northeast of North America, particularly the recent arrival of new global carriers in Montreal. We use a multicriteria approach in combination with scenarios where the relative importance given to selection criteria and the performance of ports are both varied across a wide range. This allows us to assess how port preference is affected by changes in criteria weight (expressing selection rationale) and by changes in evaluation (expressing relative port performance). With criteria weights set to reflect the common selection rationale, our findings suggests that shipping lines should call at New York and bypass Montreal. For Montreal to become the preferred choice, extensive hinterland coverage must be the top criterion for carriers and simultaneously the port must perform better in terms of cost and/or service. We conclude by discussing the implications for the hub-and-spoke paradigm of network evolution. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2006) 8, 169–186. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100152