Insight and Opinion – Page 24
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News
Lost in the melee
COMMENT: With the posturing and the politicking done, the real job of running the United States of America now looms large ahead of president-elect Donald Trump. He and his carefully assembled team hold the fate of US infrastructure development, including ports and supporting modes, in their hands, writes Carly Fields.
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NewsLesser of two evils
COMMENT: By the time readers see this article, the 2016 US Presidential election will be underway. But like many US voters, right now I am still scratching my head and trying to figure out which candidate is the lesser of two evils, writes Barry Parker.
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News
Yet more turbulence ahead
COMMENT: For those who thought that things could not get worse, they will. At the beginning of the year there was optimism by some that 2016 would end up being a good year, however it is hard to see how anyone could have come to that conclusion, writes Ben Hackett.
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NewsMeasuring value at city ports
COMMENT: Should port development differ between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas? Definitely, in my view, writes Peter de Langen.
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NewsThe case of Bangladesh
COMMENT: Bangladesh is an interesting case study; it is a country where international trade is on the march but it is still a country without a deep-sea port, writes Mike Mundy.
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NewsReal concession reform?
COMMENT: India has released details of a proposed new model concession agreement which is designed to reform its terminal bidding process and attract more private sector investment.
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News
A little mercy
COMMENT: I’m going to hijack this Viewpoint for something not strictly related to ports. That said, the topic does involve a ship, which does dock at ports in Africa, so I’ll make that my tenuous link, writes Carly Fields.
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News
Nowhere to hide
COMMENT: Pundits have been saying for years that container lines need to merge or bow out to bring the box trade back to some semblance of normality. Hapag-Lloyd and UASC took note with a merger deal, while CMA CGM swallowed up NOL along with its sizable debts.
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News
Shout louder to counter opposition
COMMENT: The word NIMBY (not in my backyard) has taken on a new dimension in New York, with the rampant opposition to a plan, floated by the Coast Guard, that would open ten new anchorages along the Hudson River, north of the city, writes Barry Parker.
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NewsFace up to the stark reality
COMMENT: I have come to the conclusion that economies of scale and the continuous upsizing of ships is leading the way to disaster, writes Ben Hackett.
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NewsSense of green port dues
COMMENT: In a recent academic conference in Hamburg, various papers addressed differentiated port dues for green ships partly to address the European Commission’s evident favouritism of such an approach, writes Peter de Langen.
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NewsHeavy turbulence
COMMENT: The best guestimate is that there are up to half a million containers in ‘nowhere land’ thanks to the collapse of Hanjin Shipping. Not all of the containers are on ships either; many are inland.
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News
Will common sense prevail?
COMMENT: The port of Melbourne sale to the private sector has realised a whacking A$9.7bn (US$7.2bn), much more than anticipated, writes Mike Mundy.
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NewsValue in port clusters
COMMENT: It is increasingly understood that ports are spatial clusters of interrelated economic activities, such as chemical plants, energy plants, construction plants (for instance for components of offshore wind installations), warehouses, and terminals as well as a variety of business services, writes Peter de Langen.
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NewsBox or bust
COMMENT: Industry analyst Alphaliner has come up with the stunning statistic that global container traffic will grow by just 0.3% this year, the second slowest growth rate since 2009 when volume shrank by -8.3% following the global financial crisis.
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NewsA model for co-operation
COMMENT: Fragmentation, however you define the word, is a fact of life when it comes to shipping and to the maritime businesses and organisations which touch it, writes Barry Parker.
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News
Politics or practicalities?
COMMENT: The current chief executive of the port of Melbourne, Nick Easy, was appointed to his post in February 2014 moving into this role from his former position as chief executive of the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Service Board (MF&ESB) where, his CV states, “he was responsible for leading an ...
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News
Finding a general purpose niche
COMMENT: In the early days of containerisation ports employed a benchmark ratio that one 1,250 teu container ship (remember that huge size?) replaced four multi-purpose general cargo ships and brought a host of benefits, not least high productivity and low port times, writes Ben Hackett.
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Pressure on transhipment ports
COMMENT: You would think that as container ships got bigger that we would see fewer ports of call, writes Ben Hackett.
