Transhipment mega hubs in the Mediterranean have witnessed a surge in container traffic in recent years, recording growth welt above the market average. In 2013, each of the seven top 10 Mediterranean box ports that posted positive growth focused their business around transhipment trade. The largest, Algeciras, saw volumes grow 9.4% to 4.5m teu on-year, while Piraeus (3.1m teu), Gioia Tauro (3.1m teu) and Port Said (4.1m teu) recorded double-digit growth of 15.7%, 13.4% and 12.9% respectively. So why has this hub and spoke formula proved so successful in the Mediterranean? Drewry Maritime Research senior analyst Neil Davidson believes that the boom in Mediterranean transhipment is all related to the introduction of bigger ships on the Asia-Europe trade lane which need to sail as full as possible.
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