Baltic Press - Baltic Transport Journal

In the last issue of the Baltic Transport Journal we published an article by Per Olaf Brett entitled "The mega-port development mania must be stopped".

In this article the author argues that the percentage of investments in mega-ports is much higher than their share in European maritime freight handling. Moreover, they are not effective, in terms of providing uninterrupted cargo flow, especially with the hinterland. In Brett's opinion it's strong political pressure and not commercial reasons that drive ports towards further developement. This drives the author towards a call for stopping overinvestments, reducing modal shifts of cargo, retaining cargo on board, decentralisation and strengthening the role of small and medium-sized ports. The article received a wide response among our readers and is now the subject of our main question in this issue.

Do you agree that mega-ports are overinvested and that upgrading small and medium-sized ports could lead to greater effectiveness?

Bengt van Beuningen, Port of Hamburg Marketing:
The hub and spoke system in Europe is working well. Big ports function as hub ports and the smaller ports are serviced by feeder/short sea traffic. [read more]

Hans Hansson, Freight Commercial Manager at Stena Line Freight:
My view is that the mega ports are effective up to a certain level and, beyond that point, new cost elements emerge that will be counterproductive. One thing is to grow the port itself but what we see today is that many of the mega-ports are fighting with an insufficient hinterland infrastructure. [read more]

Johannes de Jong, CEO of Baltic Container Terminal, Gdynia:
I read with interest the ideas expounded in Per Olaf Brett’s article,
which appeared in BTJ 2/2008. The headline employed is perhaps a little radical for the beliefs expressed which seemed to suggest a change in emphasis from major hub port development to small and medium-sized regional ports as a solution to meet future transport system and capacity requirements. [read more]

Lars Karlsson, Managing Director, Copenhagen Malmö Port AB:
My direct comment is: “We have heard it all before!” And, I get the feeling when I read this article that there is a call for more regulations and “EU – Port Packages”. It lacks recognition of the market forces and market orientation. [read more]

Annick Dekeyser, Marketing Executive, Antwerp Port Authority:
I cannot really agree with the opinion that big ports are over-investing in capacity. We have globalisation and growing trade.
The goods need to come to Europe. [read more]