Globalization and Consolidation in Maritime Transport and Its Implications for Container Port Business

The world of container shipping and container terminal business is changing and container ports need to know what the changes are in order to plan how to respond. In particular, the container transport industry has noticed two major developments such as globalization and consolidation. The purpose of this paper is to review the current trend towards globalization and consolidation of container liner shipping and container terminal business. It also investigates the impact of these market developments on container ports and presents its implications for port development, management and operation, and port competition policy. According to the discussion of this paper a greater exercise of market power of container terminal operators will have negative impacts on international trade and national economy, especially port users, including container lines, exporters and importers. An empirical evidence on the exercise of market power is required to develop competition rules on market dominance at a national and international level. This paper suggests 'port coopetition' as a solution for smaller and regional container terminal operators to survive in a competitive business environment.