Understanding the development of port and regional relationships: a new cooperation/competition matrix

Abstract

This thought-piece article was developed as part of an international expert forum review for ports planning and maritime logistics. We examine some of the key ways in which seaports have developed from a position of direct competition to increasing collaboration in order to remain competitive in a fast-changing world. Strategic port cooperation is considered through a new conceptual cooperation/competition matrix, which can be used to evaluate the response strategies of ports to inter-port rivalry and changing maritime competitive dynamics. We address key discussion questions: What are the major types of cooperation in which ports are now engaged? What are the major maritime competitive dynamics? How should port authorities cooperate and plan moving forward towards 2030? The cooperation/competition matrix is not meant to be prescriptive, but rather offers a useful tool for holistic evaluation, to identify the way in which port strategy has changed over recent decades and indicate a direction for ports and regional planning in the twenty-first century.

Acknowledgements

This work has developed from an Expert Meeting at the University of Antwerp in May 2011, which included 30 leading international maritime academics, practitioners and policy-makers. Not all views within the article are shared by all of the experts. However, the article presents commonly held arguments and analysis for wider academic discussion and debate. The authors are grateful for the expert input and debate from that meeting which has helped shape this article.