The ostensible tension between competition and cooperation in ports: a case study on intra-port competition and inter-organizational relations in the Rotterdam container handling sector

Abstract

Strategic alliances in the container shipping sector, and requirements imposed by consolidated hinterland modalities such as trains and barges, have resulted in container terminals facing increasing pressures to cooperate to handle increasingly intertwined container flows. However, concession agreements and market conditions often also pressure terminals to compete. This paper aims to help understand how pressures for competition and cooperation conflict, what problems this causes, what drives these tensions, and how these can be resolved. The drivers of port competitiveness are generally conceptualized as straightforward criteria related to costs, efficiency, location, and infrastructure. Because of the focus on these 'hard', quantifiable factors, the qualitative relational underpinnings of port performance are often overlooked. This paper explores how inter-organizational relations function as a major underpinning of port performance and competitiveness. Interviews with a representative selection of stakeholders in the Port of Rotterdam reveal the problems that can occur when cooperation between terminals is under pressure. These problems relate to deficiencies in inter-organizational relationships, which do not tend to arise spontaneously in a competitive context. This paper provides a framework that helps understand how firms can simultaneously balance pressures for competition and imperatives for cross-firm integration and cooperation. Several technical and organizational solutions are suggested, but effective implementation depends on various tacit factorsincluding trust, shared values, and a sense of communitythat determine stakeholders' willingness to commit and cooperate.

Literature review and comparative analysis of inland waterways transport: “Container on Barge”

“…Case study analysis is the second most frequently employed methodological approach found in COB research, comprising 19% of our sample. Castelein et al (2019) conduct a case study of the Port of Rotterdam to identify the underlying problems caused by interorganizational cooperation and competition under pressure. Their case study reveals the significance of mutual trust, value sharing, and unity among intermodal transportation parties, to maintain a healthy balance between cooperation and competition.…”

Impacts of the carbon tax on green shipping supply chain under the port competition

“…On the other hand, competition as well as cooperation among major participants in the shipping supply chains not only are important spur and propellant to promote performance of the shipping industry, but also both need to be maintained within a reasonable range. Between ports and shipping enterprises, there is already fierce competition in infrastructure, price, service and other “soft” aspects, too (Castelein et al, 2019), and facing the wave of globalization and digital shipping, vertical and horizontal forms of cooperation have gradually emerged (Alvarez‐SanJaime et al, 2013), to fetch the effect of “1 + 1 > 2”. For example, in 1996, China formally proposed to build “combined ports” centered on Shanghai and radiating Jiangsu and Zhejiang ports.…”

“…Between ports and shipping enterprises, there is already fierce competition in infrastructure, price, service and other "soft" aspects, too (Castelein et al, 2019), and facing the wave of globalization and digital shipping, vertical and horizontal forms of cooperation have gradually emerged (Alvarez-SanJaime et al, 2013), to fetch the effect of "1 + 1 > 2". For example, in 1996, China formally proposed to build shan Port has ranked first in the world for 13 consecutive years.…”

Evaluation of the components of intelligence and greenness in Iranian ports based on network data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach

“…Development of fuel efficiency, improvement of energy efficiency, change of transportation architecture, development and smartening of ports, development of Network data envelopment analysis appropriate infrastructure in ports, utilization of modern technologies in ports, adoption of ICT, intelligent port systems, port efficiency, port operator, port tariffs, trade flows, trade imbalances, trade volume, trade complementarity, maritime industry structure, supply line services, position regulations in the global transit network, distance centralization, the ship operating costs, trade facilitation, freight, transit volume and value, type of production, international maritime agents and transit costs must be considered to save energy and achieve an efficient allocation of available resources (Castelein et al, 2019).…”