Port tracker tool

The World Ports Tracker combines survey-based results with port performance statistics based on S&P Global Port Performance Program data. These statistics report four container port metrics – vessel calls, evolution of call and vessel size and port moves per hour, aggregated per region and cover the period 2017 to 2021.

The tracker was unveiled by co-author Thanos Pallis, professor in ports and maritime economics and policy at the department of Port Management and Shipping, University of Piraeus, Greece, at the International Association of Ports and Harbors 2022 World Ports Conference running currently from 16 – 18 May in Canada.

Fresh data

“Having fresh as opposed to just historic data from ports is key not only to a timely overview,” he said. “With careful interpretation, it can give us clues as to what will happen next, also regionally – this is what ports will obtain from our global ports tracker to react accordingly.”

Key information from ports on call volumes, status of warehousing capacity and hinterland connectivity will be inter-linked and then combined with expectations on cargo and passenger throughput as well as vessel calls.

“What we are calling for is the same commitment shown by fellow ports around the world when the pandemic broke out, as we clearly see that COVID-19, geopolitical conflict and war, extreme weather, and other factors mean that ports do need a bellwether like this tracker as a tool to improve resilience,” concluded co-author Theo Notteboom, chair professor ‘North Sea Ports’ at the Maritime Institute of Ghent, professor at the Antwerp Maritime Academy and at the University of Antwerp and visiting research professor at Shanghai Maritime University.