Port competition through hinterland accessibility: the case of Spain

Abstract

While immediate port hinterlands remain relatively captive, distant hinterlands are fiercely contested. Where road is the dominant mode, transport costs are a function of distance which is therefore often the key determinant of port choice. Where distance is sufficiently long to enable rail to compete, other factors become important, such as terminal availability and frequency of rail services. Many ports are increasing the use of rail transport to ease port congestion, reduce transport costs or decrease environmental externalities. The question this paper poses is to what extent has the development of inland terminals and container rail shuttles influenced the ability of Spanish ports to compete for distant hinterlands? The paper analyses competition between three major container ports in Spain: Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia. The methodology was based on using GIS to produce a set of maps which identify relationships between the location of the main logistics platforms, the configuration of the terrestrial transport infrastructure and the provincial origin/destination of the maritime container traffic and its inter-port distribution from 2008 to 2013. We use longitudinal data on port shipments from inland regions to investigate the changing spatial distribution of port hinterlands and then we map these changes against road and rail traffic flows, in order to explore if a correlation exists between the market share of ports in contestable hinterlands and the use of rail shuttles to key inland terminals. We find that while some inland terminals have been successful in consolidating traffic on rail services, ports (e.g. Valencia) have been able to capture distant hinterlands even with a low usage of rail. This suggests that the use of rail is not the key driver behind successful capture of distant markets, but rather distance remains the primary determinant of port choice. In future, the port of Valencia should seek to grow its volumes in areas where its traffic is currently less concentrated, around rail terminals.

Challenging the shipper's location problem in port studies: An analysis of French AOC wine shipments to the US

“…2 Given the overwhelming dominance of road in French wine exports, alternative inland modes have not been considered in the present study. It should be however noted that when considering commodities others than wine, intermodal alternatives to the road may be determinant, as showed by Guerrero (2019) and Garcia-Alonso et al (2019). Within the port literature there also studies estimating the potential hinterlands of ports, based on time and costs for different transport modes (see, for example, Van Hassel et al 2016 (e.g., Ducruet, 2013, Pais-Montes et al, 2012 and an increasing demand for 'easily measurable' port performance indicators (Ng & Ducruet, 2014).…”

Estrategia del Océano Azul para el sector portuario (sincromodalidad y digitalización)

“…Según apuntan numerosos estudios sobre la evolución del sector portuario, la globalización que está sufriendo actualmente el mercado mundial en todas sus facetas, con especial relevancia el crecimiento del comercio internacional de mercancías está propiciando un aumento de la competencia portuaria [13]. Este fenómeno es fácilmente apreciable en el proceso de jerarquización y selección que se está produciendo en los puertos españoles, donde se lucha por conseguir una mayor concentración de los tráficos portuarios y localización de empresas en su entorno más próximo, lo que conlleva además una aglutinación de los grupos tecnológicos en unas pocas áreas costeras [14].…”

Influence of the geographical pattern of foreign trade on the inland distribution of maritime traffic

“…However, Algeciras was omitted because its traffic is mainly transhipment traffic, which causes it to move a volume of national freight notably lower than the rest. Furthermore, it was also omitted because the geographical scope of its hinterland is much more limited, stable and much less contestable for the rest of the ports (see Garcia-Alonso et al, 2017and Moura et al, 2017. Arguably, the characteristics of the port of Algeciras make it equally suitable for channelling traffic from its traditional hinterland to both America and Asia.…”