The purpose of the paper is to highlight the perspectives and the economic benefits that the expansion of the Panama Canal will entail for the transport and the logistics industry at world level and in the Mediterranean. The consequences linked to this expansion will in fact be considerable. The paper also proposes a cost comparison between the main competing routes, the implications for cargo and trades and the composition of the global market. From North America, Latin America, Europe to Asia in fact, suddenly many nations will see the opening of alternative naval routes to access the markets.

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During the last years there is an increasing concern about the environmental impact caused by maritime activities. In particular, the environmental concern in shipping industry is driven by a more strength regulation and by the higher stakeholder’s expectations. This paper has two main objectives: the first aim is to analyze the main theoretical contribution about this topic, focusing on the drivers of environmental proactivity in the maritime industry and on the green practices performed. The second purpose of the paper is to develop a multiple case-study on the environmental proactivity shown by shipping companies that operate in CO.NA.TE.CO terminal in the port of Naples in order to verify if this environmental trend is modifying the competitive behaviour in the shipping industry.

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It has been given an important role in development policies and urban regeneration to the accessibility and to the renewed interest in the growth of trade routes in the Mediterranean Sea, concurrently with the development of cruise tourism and the awareness about the necessary implementation of green policies. Lately, in this context, a strategic role has been played by Apulian ports (Bari, Brindisi and Taranto) which have tried to adopt the principles of environmental sustainability and have allowed firms to exercise significant leadership functions by implementing a good interaction, although it isn’t complete yet, between port system and economic system, through the authorities and the local political institutions. The goal to be undertaken is the consideration of accessibility in Apulia which, as it’s known, doesn’t concern only the presence of natural factors. Therefore, for a proper economic and social development, we can’t ignore the observation and analysis of the environmental and cultural reality in which systems identified are included, because it helps to un-derstand if there are favorable conditions in the environment or impediments to its development.

Synthesis Report (September 2013)

This report provides a synthesis of main findings from the OECD Port-Cities Programme, created in 2010 in order to assess the impact of ports on their cities and provide policy recommendations to increase the positive impacts of ports on their cities. This Programme was directed by Olaf Merk, Administrator Port-Cities within the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate. The synthesis report is based on findings from a series of OECD Port-Cities case studies. Such case studies were conducted for Le Havre/Rouen/Paris/Caen (France), Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Marseille (France), Mersin (Turkey), Rotterdam/Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Antofagasta (Chile), Bratislava/Komárno/Štúrova (Slovak Republic), Durban (South Africa) and Shanghai (China). The OECD Port-Cities Programme also benefited from visits to the following ports and port-cities and discussion with port-related actors in the following port-cities: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, Casablanca, Venice, Trieste, Genoa, Valparaíso, Varna, Gdansk, Koper, Vienna, Antwerp, Felixstowe, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sydney and Newcastle (Australia).

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This research (English and Italian version) is extracted from the Annual Report “Italian Maritime Economy. New routes for growth” and is written by Ennio Forte, Full Professor in Transport Economics and Logistics at the University of Naples “Federico II”. The research describes the role of the Short Sea Shipping (SSS) in the transition from a Eurocentric model to a Euro-Mediterranean one. In fact, the scenario for maritime flow has shifted its center; within the framework of flows that effect the Mediterranean, the SSS are more influential in the choice of a dominant co-modal maritime routes in the modalland-sea exchange in order to achieve lower logistics cost.

This paper aims to analyze the current and past situation of container maritime sector in Southern Italy, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of transhipment. This phenomenon can be considered as a valid indicator of ports evolution dynamics and of their organization. The analysis of transhipment and its tendency from mid-90s until today reveals: signs of distortion between supply and demand; consequent reorganization of the container liner services by shipping companies: phenomena of concentration of traffic on specific ports or clusters. On the basis of the above considerations, this analysis is accompanied by a careful study of strategic dynamics which have taken place within the container maritime sector, at global level. Subsequently, it has to be done a quantitative research phase, followed by a qualitative one, in which are collected and processed traffic data for the main container ports in the Mediterranean, taking as reference the last two decades. The ultimate goal is to develop a model that analyzing and anticipating the future dynamics of the maritime routes that cross the Mediterranean, with a particular focus on transhipment, defining the role of the main ports of transhipment hubs of Southern Italy.

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This paper (Italian language) will show that maritime transport is a dynamic sector, a business that over time has attracted investments also from abroad; it has a historical value and has resisted, and is still resisting, not without difficulty, to the crisis, by consistently seeking new paths and solutions to offer increasingly fast and efficient connections.
This paper’s aim is therefore to analyse the role played by maritime transport as a competitiveness-building factor, its importance for the economy, and its growth prospects. With the support of data and statistics, the paper will highlight the value of the sector at the international level, in terms of the country system as well as of individual regional territories, by means of case studies.

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SRM’s research provides data and statistics on traffic, fleet size, areas of development in the industry and the strengths and weaknesses of maritime transport, without neglecting issues connected with the presence of strong and clever international competitors in the areas of shipping and port logistics services. More specifically, attention is focused on Italy’s “commercial influence” in the Mediterranean and on the maritime traffic to and from the Med Area, with an indication of the intensity of trade and the main partners involved, most notably Turkey, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. The report shows the presence of centres of excellence, such as the Campania maritime cluster and the ports of Genoa and Trieste, which are the three engines of our maritime economy.

The book is in English. To request the version on paper (35 euros + shipping costs) write to comunicazione@sr-m.it

This paper (in English and Italian version) intends to analyse the competition in the context with which the Italian port system operates, with reference to Northern Europe, Med Europe, Northern Africa and the East Med hubs. With this research SRM has attended the XVI Conference of the SIET (Italian Association of Transport Economics and Logistics), that was held in Florence from 8th to 10th October 2014.

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The aim of this research is to deepen, through analysis of benchmarks and best practices, the role of public policy in supporting intermodal rail to and from the ports aimed at raising their competitiveness and at mitigating the environmental externalities that affect the relationship between the port and the city, in Green port logic. The core of this work is focused on the cases of Italy, Spain, France and Slovenia in order to identify the organizational and trade aspects of direct investment promoted by the public sector and aimed at promoting intermodal rail transportation to and from the ports within the North Western Mediterranean. Leaf through the book

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The present paper aims at analysing the port development plans of the main Italian southern and central ports in order to identify the growth paths in relation to their competitiveness level. This last aspect is discussed through two different analysis: a Shift Share Analysis and a Network Analysis. While the former one aims at comparing the growing rates in specific market segments (i.e. ro-ro), among specific ports and the macro-region, the latter one provides some centrality indexes in order to understand the relative position of each nodes belonging to the maritime network. The paper ends with some policy prescriptions that could improve the current competitive position of the ports competing in the ro-ro market.

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Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 31, 2016, after months of trying to raise liquidity and restructure its debt, triggering a mad scramble by shippers to locate and gain control of their containers. Hanjin vessels have been arrested and ports are refusing to work Hanjin ships for fear they will not be compensated. Hanjin Shipping’s collapse is by far the largest container shipping bankruptcy in history and the consequences will continue to reverberate throughout international supply chains and the transportation sector.

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This research (English and Italian version) is extracted from the Annual Report “Italian Maritime Economy. New routes for growth” and is written by Oliviero Baccelli and Lanfranco Senn, CERTeT, Transport and Tourism Economics, Bocconi University, Milan. The research describes the development of naval gigantism that is leading to the development of new port and commercial arrangements at an international level; the increasingly pre-eminent role of alliances on the main routes is the shipping companies’ response to the demand for lower prices and greater capability of the service, but this will clearly lead to the marginalisation of port infrastructures that are not ready to seize these giant carriers or have enough space available to store (and maybe process) containers. This article gives an account of all this by identifying the most important aspects and the changes currently taking place.

This paper aims to explore opportunities and modalities regarding corporate social responsibility of port logistics, in order to improve attractiveness and competitiveness of sea supply chains, almost paradoxically also in the perspective of increasing the traffics managed by global logistic players. In particular, beyond the traditional determinants of sea-ports’ efficiency, the study identifies the integration of processes among the different agents involved in the maritime supply chain as the keystone to increase the levels of efficacy, responsibility, and competitiveness. Important contributions for the integration is played firstly by the digitalization of seaport-related activities, but also by the evolution of sea-terminals towards a ‘social supply chain management’ approach, as a consequence of the implementation of corporate social responsibility practices in single nodes. A case study has been conducted on the Port of Venice, which has been compared with three important sea-terminals of Southern Italy: Naples, Gioia Tauro, and Bari.