Port regionalization: improving port competitiveness by reaching beyond the port perimeter

摘要

Since the mid-19th century and up to the diffusion of containerization as a dominant form of freight distribution in the 1980s, the development of a port system evolved from an initial pattern of scattered, poorly connected ports along a coastline to a main network consisting of corridors between gateway ports and major hinterlarid centers (see phases 1 to 4 on Figure 1).Containerization revolutionized maritime shipping and port terminal operations and supported the substantial growth in international transoceanic trade over the last decades. While traditionally most ports had a fairly clear and distinctive hinterland, containerization initiated a trend towards large overlapping or contestable hinterland regions. The competitive landscape became even more complex by the setting of large container transshipment facilities in locations with a weak hinterland. From the late 1980s, the integration of such transshipment hubs led to a new paradigm in port evolution.