Smaller ports’ evolution towards catalysing sustainable hinterland development

ABSTRACT

From simple organizations as gateways for goods and passengers, ports have evolved and transformed into complex organizational systems with multiple functions. Besides providing cargo, logistics, and other kinds of services to its customers, modern ports engage in the development of their hinterlands. Sustainability, evolving from environmental actions over the years, has become the core of many modern ports’ approach towards hinterland development and port competitiveness. While the literature is concerned with and presents examples of large ports implementing sustainability initiatives, the literature is scarce on smaller ports. This article addresses this gap by exploring qualitatively the case of the Port of Aalborg, a medium-sized port in Denmark, and its evolution towards using sustainability for port and hinterland development. The research focuses on the actions behind environmental development at the port. Its evolution is mapped and explored using the analytical framework developed based on the (larger) ports’ development and their roles. The findings from the Port of Aalborg case exemplify how smaller ports can evolve to drive the sustainable development of their hinterlands and contribute to a better understanding of this kind of port.     

A Delphi analysis on green performance evaluation indices for ports in China

This study identified a set of applicable and practical green performance evaluation indices for Chinese ports using the Delphi technique. The research was conducted by targeting three representative Chinese ports in Eastern China: the Shanghai Port, Ningbo Port, and Qingdao Port. An effective expert panel was structured with direct stakeholders related to green performance, which was based on a sufficient consideration of the unique and the special decision-making system for Chinese ports. Twenty-one green performance indices in six dimensions (i.e. liquid pollution management, air pollution management, noise control, low carbon regulations and energy savings, marine biology preservation, and organization and management) were eventually identified through three rounds of iterations. The identified green performance indices for Chinese ports are highly consistent with the Chinese Government’s environmental policies. Compared with European ports, the green port performance indicators in China are not as comprehensive. The indicators that are strictly consistent with national macro policies and the factors that are more easily seen, heard, and felt were perceived to be more important. From an academic perspective, this study offers a new approach for system establishment and green practice criteria exploration and thus provides a significant basis for further green port studies.     

港口环境承载力概念及其影响因素初探

港口环境承载力作为衡量港口可持续发展的重要指标,其概念和影响因素亟待研究。根据环境科学中有关环境容量和环境承载力的相关理论,结合港口可持续发展的要求,提出港口环境承载力的概念并对其影响因素进行了分析,认为港口环境承载力受港口的自然条件、软硬件条件、周边及腹地交通条件、社会经济条件、能源资源条件和环境污染水平的共同影响。港口环境承载力概念及其影响因素的研究将为港口承载力的定量评估提供理论基础。     

The strategic role of ports in regional development: conceptualising the experience from Australia

Regional ports, as infrastructure in regions, influence transport and regional development policies and planning. The interaction and involvement of regional ports with their stakeholders in the region are pivotal. The conundrum on what constitutes a regional port and thus its region has further complicated this limited researched area. In the extant literature, port and region relationship mainly centres on major metropolitan ports, and pays little heed to regional ports. In this context, this study investigates on how the Australian regional ports can be better involved in regional development. The study adopts a qualitative methodology to explore the Australian regional port stakeholders’ perceptions on port’s role in regional development through 38 semi-structured telephone interviews. Thematic analysis of data assisted by a mixture of NVivo software and manual techniques proposes a conceptual model that may assist policy-making. The key findings suggest that symbiotic growths of ports and concerned regions accelerate regional development. To contribute to regional development, the Australian regional ports can be proactive in building collaboration with regional organisations. The findings have major implications for port managers and port policy-makers for developing a region-oriented long-term port planning and for creating environment for Australian regional ports for regional resource configuration.     

Assessment of port economic impacts on regional economy with a case study on the Port of Lisbon

This article presents a method of assessing the economic impacts of ports at both regional level and national level, through application of input–output analysis. To this end, a methodology for data collection is proposed, which combines a top-down with a bottom-up approach which should help in surpassing some of the difficulties commonly faced in port economic impact studies. The presented methodology allows port planners and policymakers to assess the economic significance and geographic reach of port investments. This study considers the economic impacts of the port cluster and the socio-economic significance of port user industries. The several layers of the analysis are kept separate to allow a better grasp of direct and indirect impacts. The proposed methodology is demonstrated in a study of the Port of Lisbon, which confirms the significance of this port to the Portuguese economy, and also demonstrates that the influence of the Port of Lisbon is mostly limited to an area in close proximity to the port. Therefore, results suggest that investments for the development of logistic infrastructures associated with the port should concentrate in the immediate hinterland of the port.     

国内外生态港口建设现状分析及启示

文章分析了美国、日本、澳大利亚、英国等国家的先进港口建设现状,讨论了国外生态港口建设实践对我国生态港口建设的借鉴作用。结合当前我国港口环境保护的要求,分析了上海港、天津港、大连港、深圳港等在建设生态港口方面的工作进展,讨论了当前我国在生态港口建设方面存在的主要挑战。围绕资源节约型、环境友好型社会的建设,提出了我国建设生态港口的主要对策。     

Institutional change in the Port of New York

Innovation, organizational capabilities, and environmental values combine to determine institutional change for a major marine port. This conceptual framework is applied to the case of dredged material management for the Port of New York and New Jersey. During the century under review, the institutional setting has changed significantly with: (1) environmental considerations moving from nearly irrelevant to central: (2) the number of interests and organizations increasing; and (3) the decision processes becoming far more complex. Ultimately, the new institutional setting influences organizations and individual decisions. As a result of the changes, the practice of dredged material disposal in ocean waters has been limited based on the level of bioaccumulation of selected contaminants. In response to institutional changes, ports requiring deepened channels must rapidly innovate to meet new environmental obligations for material disposal in order to enhance organizational capabilities necessary to maintain competitive advantages in maritime commerce. Successful marine ports will anticipate and meet new societal expectations related to the environment as a condition for continued legitimacy. Collectively these changes imply that ports have moved beyond a carefully circumscribed mission of transportation and economic development to that of a prominent user of coastal space with broad obligations to the public.     

Book reviews

Innovation, organizational capabilities, and environmental values combine to determine institutional change for a major marine port. This conceptual framework is applied to the case of dredged material management for the Port of New York and New Jersey. During the century under review, the institutional setting has changed significantly with: (1) environmental considerations moving from nearly irrelevant to central: (2) the number of interests and organizations increasing; and (3) the decision processes becoming far more complex. Ultimately, the new institutional setting influences organizations and individual decisions. As a result of the changes, the practice of dredged material disposal in ocean waters has been limited based on the level of bioaccumulation of selected contaminants. In response to institutional changes, ports requiring deepened channels must rapidly innovate to meet new environmental obligations for material disposal in order to enhance organizational capabilities necessary to maintain competitive advantages in maritime commerce. Successful marine ports will anticipate and meet new societal expectations related to the environment as a condition for continued legitimacy. Collectively these changes imply that ports have moved beyond a carefully circumscribed mission of transportation and economic development to that of a prominent user of coastal space with broad obligations to the public.     

Modelling port choice in an uncertain environment

Port choice is an important issue to be investigated to ensure the effective integration of container supply chains and the sustainable development of regional economy. The selection of appropriate ports to facilitate shipping activities and international trade is crucial for many stakeholders, including shipping lines, port administrators, cargo shippers and national governments. The task is essentially a process of multiple criterion decision-making (MCDM) under uncertainty, requiring analysts to derive rational decisions from uncertain and incomplete data related to different quantitative and qualitative determinants. This paper aims at proposing a new conceptual port choice method by explaining the role fuzzy logic in evidential reasoning in a complementary way, in which various forms of raw data (either objective or subjective) collected to evaluate port performance can first be converted into and presented as fuzzy grades defined using linguistics terms with degrees of belief (DoBs) and second be combined using evidential reasoning to produce a port choice preference score. The method is applied to analyse the selection of major Northeast Asian (NEA) container ports from a shipping line’s perspective. The outcome, a port choice preference score, is calculated using evidential reasoning to directly synthesize the true estimation of the port with respect to each criterion and therefore, unlike a relative ranking index, keeps the ‘goodness’ of port evaluation, capable of benchmarking a specific port’s performance and monitoring the increase of its competitiveness in a longitude study with respect to an individual criterion or all the criteria as a whole.     

大连港吞吐量与腹地经济发展关系研究

文章采用圈层结构法将大连港腹地划分为三个圈层范围,并通过构建哈夫引力模型分析各圈层经济指标与港口吞吐量之间的关系。结果表明：各圈层的经济指标对港口吞吐量的影响存在可量化的差异,从营口港对大连港吞吐量的实际影响出发,分析原因,并在两港腹地资源竞争分析基础上,提出区域化合作将是两港未来发展的理性选择。     

国、内外港口船舶岸电技术的发展和应用现状

目前,在国家日益重视节能减排和环境保护的大背景下,使用岸上电源系统为靠港船舶供电作为解决我国港口环境污染问题的全新尝试已有成功的范例,并在一些港口开展试点工作。重点介绍国内、外船舶岸电技术的发展和已建连云港港客滚码头59#泊位船舶岸电系统的配置情况,并对天津港现有泊位实施岸电技术改造后能够取得的经济效益和环境效益进行预测评估。根据国内港口的现实情况,提出全面实施港口船舶岸电系统存在的主要问题和相关意见与建议。     

日照港油品运输发展规划研究

日照港是山东省油品运输的重要港口,为促进日照港及腹地的经济发展,必须在油品运输研究的基础上优化其港口建设发展规划.为了解日照港的系统需求,分析了腹地及港口的经济数据的各种相关因素,得出日照港主要腹地的原油和成品油需求的预测数据,提出了建设保税物流区及交易中心等建议.研究表明,日照港规划建设新泊位码头设施建设、优化港区内装卸罐区等布局十分必要.     

泛地主港模式对浙江沿海港口的借鉴作用

以嘉兴港实践地主港模式作为实证研究对象,对其成效和存在的问题进行剖析,提出以泛地主港模式进行港口建设的思路,介绍泛地主港模式的运作方式和程序,就泛地主港模式对浙江沿海港口的借鉴作用进行论述.     

Stakeholder Perceptions of Seaport Resilience Strategies: A Case Study of Gulfport (Mississippi) and Providence (Rhode Island)

Climate change is having and will continue to have a range of negative impacts on social–environmental systems. Many ports, with their coastal locations and essential roles in regional and national economies, face particular exposure to storm impacts that may worsen with climate change. Currently in the United States port resilience planning falls primarily on port operators. Engaging a wider range of stakeholders in long-term seaport functioning may reduce risks from disruptive and potentially irreversible impacts of climate change. This study uses empirical data gathered through two case studies of highly exposed U.S. ports, Gulfport (MS) and Providence (RI), to identify strategies that port planners and external stakeholders consider feasible for enhancing their port's resilience. This article categorizes these resilience strategies and suggests the potential role that different stakeholders could play in facilitation and implementation.     

The California Coastal Act and Ports: The Unintended Environmental Justice Implications of Preserving California's Coastline

Consistent with the policies set forth in the Coastal Zone Management Act, the California Coastal Act seeks to balance the utilization and conservation of coastal resources, taking into account the social and economic needs of the citizens of California. One way the statute pursues this balance is through its provisions for ports. These provisions have functioned as a type of smart growth planning for ports, encouraging densification of existing port districts and possibly averting maritime commercial and industrial sprawl along the California coast. One unintended consequence of the encouraged consolidation of port activities, when combined with the rapid growth in international trade over the last four decades, has been disproportionally large environmental and health impacts on low-income and minority communities surrounding ports. This article examines how the Port of Long Beach's conformance with the California Coastal Act has resulted in ongoing environmental justice concerns. It discusses approaches employed by the Port of Long Beach to reduce environmental justice concerns resulting from significant and unavoidable environmental impacts and offers suggestions for how to address this issue.     

Hinterland strategies of port authorities: A case study of the port of Barcelona

Port authorities generally focus on the development of the local port area and play a minor role in the development of port hinterlands, whereas shippers, forwarders, barge and rail operators have always been involved in the port-hinterland connection. The increasing importance of intermodal hinterland networks for the competitive position of ports has urged port authorities to become active in the hinterland. This new role has already been suggested by different academics. However, limited empirical evidence exists of port authorities taking stakes in inland terminals or developing transport services. Barcelona, as one of the leading port authorities in this respect, is used as a case study in this paper. The case study provides insight in the components and execution of the hinterland strategy of Barcelona. It shows that the strategy of the port authority of Barcelona and the consequent active involvement in the hinterland has had a significant impact on attracting container volumes from distant hinterlands and improving the accessibility of the port.     

锦州港25万吨级油品码头建设规划

近几年，锦州港港口吞吐量有了快速的增长，成品油的吞吐量在全港各货种中一直居于首位，对锦州港的发展举足轻重。目前锦州港油泊位的设计通过能力只有470万t／a，而2003年已完成油品吞吐量为720万t。现有设计能力已经远远不能满足锦州港发展要求。根据这种情况，锦州港拟建设25万吨级油品码头，以满足未来发展的需求，同时加强锦州港在环渤海经济区港群中的市场竞争地位。     

Sustainability at Spanish ports specialized in liquid bulk: evolution in times of crisis (2010–2015)

In Spain, 28 Port Authorities of general interest moved more than 168 thousand tonnes of liquid bulk (34% of overall traffic) in 2015. Almost 82% of this amount corresponded to eight ports (G-8) that have a refinery within their facilities. This unique degree of specialization and concentration makes this set of ports an ideal sample to analyse the evolution of their sustainability levels, particularly during the crisis started in 2008 and onwards. A proprietary methodology based on Multidimensional Synthetic Indices has been used. The comparison of the findings obtained for 2010 and 2015 allows a diagnosis of the evolution of port sustainability measured through the economic, institutional, environmental and social dimensions to be established, as well as a study of the patterns of behaviour that each port has followed in this issue.     

A well-functioning port is a stimulus for economy——Anita van der Laan, Manager, Marketing Communication, Port of Rotterdam Authority

Until just a few years ago, ports in Europe had a rather wishy-washy image. In the eyes of both the public and politicians, ports were a necessary fact of life. The upsurge of the Chinese economy and globalisation in general have changed this. People have again become aware that ports are the lifeblood of the world economy. In many countries of Western Europe, they are again realising that a wellfunctioning port is a stimulus for the economy. In the Netherlands, the positive revaluation even led to State participation in the Port of Rotterdam Authority.     

Container terminals in South Korea: problems and panaceas

Korea has achieved remarkable economic growth over the last three decades. This has largely been due to the adoption of export-oriented economic policies. This economic development has resulted in a rapid increase in export and import cargos. Since the foreign trade of Korea is carried predominantly by sea transport (approximately 99.8% in terms of volume), ports play a crucial role in this process. Although recent port developments are aimed at keeping pace with ever-growing seaborne cargoes, problems persist, especially insufficient port capacity and inefficient management and operations. As a consequence, the ports of Korea suffer from serious port congestion. This problem is particularly acute in Pusan, the fifth largest container port in the world. In the past, all ports in Korea were controlled and administered by the Korea Maritime and Port Administration which was a public port authority. In August 1996, the Korean government established a new government organization, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), with a remit to control and manage its seaports and other related activities and to improve management efficiency in the maritime area. As a way of solving problems related to port congestion and other sources of inefficiency, the new MMAF has launched several new port development schemes. In this context, this paper will discuss (1) the extent of congestion in Korean ports, especially Pusan, the major seaport of the country; and (2) governmental and commercial reaction to solving the problems, including measures such as new port development schemes aimed at attracting private and foreign finance. From this analysis, a strategy for port development in developing countries may be inferred.