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The quality and availability of labour is important for the performance of ports. In sights from cluster theories are relevant for analysing training and education in ports, as ports can be regarded as clusters. In general, labour in clusters is relatively mobile, education services in clusters are relatively good and employees have a high willingness to invest in specific skills. However, skilled and talented labour still may be scarce, especially in regions with tight labour markets. Thus, in many clusters, including port clusters, firms and governments actively aim to improve the quality of labour. This paper presents an analysis of these efforts of firms and governments to improve the quality of the labour force in three seaport clusters. In this paper the concept of a 'training and education regime' is presented as an approach to analyse efforts of firms and governments to improve the quality and availability of labour. Important results of three case studies include first, the observation that the quality of training and education regime differs substantially between clusters. Second, the presence of a regime manager in Rotterdam adds to the quality of Rotterdam's training and education regime. Such an organisation may be effective across countries and clusters. Finally, the presence of leader firms, willing to invest in training and education also improves an education regime.

Seaports can be meaningfully analysed with a cluster perspective. In this perspective, seaports are regarded as concentrations of economic activity related to the arrival and service of ships and cargoes at ports. This perspective has two main advantages: first, it draws attention to forces of agglomeration and disagglomeration in seaports. Some seaports are able to become concentrations of logistics activities, commercial centres, 'information hubs' and 'shipping hubs', while others do not attract such activities. The cluster perspective allows for an analysis of such processes of agglomeration. Second, the cluster perspective enriches existing theories on governance in seaports. The analysis of governance in seaports has mostly been limited to the role of the port authority. Notwithstanding the central role of port authorities in ports (port clusters), we argue that a port authority is one 'arrangement' to improve the governance in clusters, but not the only 'arrangement'. Other arrangements include the formation of associations, the development of public-private partnerships and the use of networks. The literature on governance in clusters provides a broad analytical framework. This framework has implications for analysing the important and complex issue of the role of port authorities in seaports. In this paper, we deal in depth with the issue of cluster governance in seaports and illustrate our approach to cluster governance with an analysis of the port of Rotterdam.

Seaports serve hinterlands. Various inland modes such as road, rail, inland waterways and pipeline are used to access the hinterland. The quality of the access to and from the hinterland differs between seaports and affects their competitiveness. The quality of the hinterland access depends among others on the behaviour of a large variety of actors, such as shipping lines, terminal operators, forwarders, the port authority and the national/regional government. Therefore, effective hinterland access is at least partially an organisational challenge. Together these actors create a 'hinterland access regime'. The analysis of this regime is central in this paper. First, the relevance of hinterland access for seaports is briefly discussed. Second, the term 'hinterland access regime' is defined and the theoretical framework presented in De Langen (2004) is used to analyse the quality of the hinterland access regime. Third, survey results on the quality of the hinterland access regime in three seaport clusters, Rotterdam, Durban and the Lower Mississippi Port Cluster (LMPC) are discussed. This analysis shows major differences between hinterland access regimes. Fourth, opportunities to improve the hinterland access regime in these three ports are discussed.

The 2008 credit crunch and the subsequent economic crisis ended a period that lasted over two decades wherein international seaports around the globe experienced double-digit volume increases. This chapter provides an analysis of the structural effects that the crisis has on seaports, focusing mostly on developments in Europe. It does so via an examination of (a) the crisis implication for each of the four major types of transport flows that account for the vast majority of port throughput worldwide; (b) the prospects for future capacity organisation and development, given the realignment of the involvement strategies that the various stakeholders (i.e., governments, port authorities, service providers, users, investors) endorse in reaction to the financial tsunami; and (c) the adjustment opportunities, that the trade downturn unintentionally provides, allowing for correction of existing misallocations in the sector via the deployment of relevant adjustment strategies by the related actors. Recapping the identified structural consequences, the final section concludes on the changing role and responsibilities of port authorities and the 'new issues' that will require further investigation in the post-financial tsunami era.

The measurement of port performance is relevant for port users, policy makers, port developers and other stakeholders. This paper describes the development of one port performance indicator: intermodal connectivity. Intermodal connectivity is relevant, as many port authorities as well as policymakers have the ambition to handle a larger share of the volumes with intermodal transport. A higher share of intermodal transport requires a better connectivity between ports and intermodal terminals in the hinterland. This paper presents two intermodal connectivity indicators, one for a specific port and one for as group of ports. At least in Europe, reliable data on intermodal services is not publicly available. Thus, we developed an intermodal connectivity indicator based on data provided by individual ports. 26 ports provided data, these ports handle roughly 70% of all container volumes. The data for 2010 and 2011 suggest that the intermodal connectivity of the EU has increased in 2011. We finalize the paper with conclusions and future research options to further advance this indicator.

This paper deals with path dependence in seaport governance. A central notion in this respect is lock-in. Economic geographers have recently started to reconsider the deterministic perspective on lock-in and developed the concept of institutional plasticity. Such plasticity is the result of actions of actors to purposefully 'recombine and convert or reinterpret institutions for their new objectives or transfer institutions to different contexts' (Strambach, 2010). This concept is applied to seaports, where so far, path dependence and lock-in have not been studied in detail. Our main conclusion is that a process of institutional stretching takes place when port authorities see a need to develop new capabilities and activities. In this process new layers are added to existing arrangements, gradually leading to a formalised governance reform but without breaking out of the existing path of development. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Long term projections of cargo throughput are indispensable for port development plans. Although commodity flow projections are useful for governments, port authorities, terminal operating companies and port users, scientific research on commodity flow projections for ports is limited. Existing studies generally use econometric models that assume stable relationships between growth of port throughput and such variables as GDP growth and trade growth. This paper presents a method that was developed as part of the Port Vision 2030 project of Port of Rotterdam Authority. The method combines a model with expert judgement and commodity specific research. This combination enables incorporating disruptions of past growth patterns. The contribution of this paper is the description of this method, its application to the volumes in 2030 of all major commodities handled in the Hamburg - Le Havre range, with four different scenarios, while most studies deal with a few commodities in one port, and often for a shorter period and with less scenarios. The results show that in all scenarios, total throughput is expected to rise, although in three scenarios not as fast as in the previous two decades. Furthermore, intermediates and container flows are expected to continue to grow, while throughput of raw materials (iron ore, crude oil) may decline

This paper presents a new method to identify 'Employment Concentration & Specialization areas' for a particular industry, by simultaneously analyzing absolute and relative employment concentration. This allows for analyzing the performance of these areas in relation to different characteristics such as infrastructure availability and the housing and labor market. This is relevant for scientists, corporate decision makers and local governments, as it can support investment decisions related to new plants or infrastructure. The method is developed and applied to five industries in a Dutch province subdivided in 502 areas. Keywords: Employment concentration, Geographical analysis, Location patterns, Agglomeration economies. JEL classification: R12, R30, J21