Northern European port efficiency
Recent research has indicated that north Europe ports may offer the most efficient route for container transport by way of the environment, economy and geography.
The research, conducted by NEA, an independent transport research agency based in the Netherlands, was carried out on behalf of the ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Hamburg.
Ports located in the north of Europe have four times the container throughput when compared to the principle ports along the southern coastline.
The report points out many reasons for this, but when it comes to environmental efficiency, clustering of activity, scale economies and deep water at the northern European ports permit large container ships with lower unit costs. Hence, large container ships are less polluting in terms of CO2 per tonne kilometre.
This environmental advantage is applicable across the 20,000 trajectory between China and Western Europe.
The NEA said: “The findings of the study indicate that on the maritime side, market forces already play an important role in creating incentives for low transport costs and lowering carbon emission rates per container unit. It shows that attention must focus on technology, fuels and load factors as well as on port selection”.
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