1. Development mechanisms and strategies of port regions César Ducruet Researcher, CNRS UMR 8504 Géographie-Cités Workshop on Ports as Engines of Economic Development and Strategic Management of Port Areas, Belgrade, Serbia, 26-27 September 2011

2. Presentation outline Freight flows and local economies Short review of some previous empirical and comparative studies Analysis of European port regions Implications for port and regional development

3. Freight flows and local economies Most researches on port cities point at decreasing benefits of port activities and lowering interdependence between ports and cities But there is a drastic lack of evidence in terms of comparative study on a large-scale due to scarcity of relevant data Problem of transit flows in port traffic (transit trade, transshipment, feedering, short-sea shipping, coastal shipping…) However such flows create local activities depending on their stage in the « value chain » (e.g. transit of containers may create value-added through logistics; liquid bulks may be coupled with petro-chemical industries…)

4. Short review of some previous empirical and comparative studies Necessity of robust measures but: -limited comparability of impact estimates (e.g. employment in specific sectors, value-added) -no study on long- term evolution; most studies within a single country (Belgium, Italy…) -no disaggregated measure of region- related port traffic and port-related regional traffic Types of specialization Description Outcome for port- region studies Possible sources for international comparison Land use Surface of port areas and other areas (industry, residence, services…) Share of port areas in total built-up (urban) areas “1000 Cities” database (Duisburg University) Local economic structure Employment in port- related industries Share of port-related industries in the local economy Eurostat, USA, Gripaios (1999) Port hinterland Spatial distribution of freight flows Share of city-region in total port traffic/hinterland None Modal split Modal distribution of freight flows (e.g. sea, air, rail, road, river…) Share of port in total city traffic None Weight “Stock” indicators of ports and cities Correlation analysis, relative concentration index See performance indicators Traffic structure Commodity mix of port cargo flows versus urban economy Relation between port specialization and city specialization See performance indicators Local-regional Socio-economic indicators compared with regional-national average Compare port cities with non-port cities (unemployment, GDP, wage levels…) See performance indicators

6. Port traffic often associated with low or decreasing regional economic performance in developed countries and especially the US (De Langen; Ducruet, Hall; Lever; Grobar…) Port traffic not always in accordance with size of local economies and concentration of service activities (Slack; O’Connor; Jacobs et al.); decreasing correlation between urban size and container traffic volume since the 1990s However traffic variety (rather than size) influenced by urban size (Ducruet et al.) Traffic volume somewhat related with the continental accessibility of ports with regard to the road transport network configuration – core/periphery (see Chapelon) Region-specific interactions, maintained correlation between port traffic and urban size in some regions, not in others; hub effect in port systems under pressure Recent work on Chinese port cities showing strong correlation between port growth and urban economic growth But … no systematic study on disaggregated port and local indicators for Europe

7. Analysis of European port regions Methodology factor analysis on port and regional variables: 5 categories of port traffic, 5 main economic sectors, regional GDP, unemployment Transformation of shares into indices (relative to European average for traffic, national average for socio-economic indicators) to avoid national biases Analysis at NUTS-2 level (i.e. aggregation of one or more ports within same entities)

8. Main results of the factor analysis Agriculture Construction Industry General cargoDry bulk Unemployment Public services Ro-ro Private services Containers Traffic size GDP per capita Liquid bulk General cargo Dry bulk GDP per capita Public services Ro-ro Private services Traffic size Liquid bulk Containers Agriculture Construction Industry Unemployment Main factors: 1) larger traffic and containers at richer and tertiary regions (also with unemployment) vs. dry bulk and general cargo at industrial and agricultural regions 2) larger liquid bulk at richer and industrial regions (MIDAs?) vs. Ro- ro at construction / agriculture / public services regions (also with unemployment) Secondary factors: 3) larger traffic and liquid bulk / containers at agricultural and industrial regions vs. dry bulk, general cargo, and ro-ro at richer and tertiary regions 4) ro-ro alone vs. dry bulk, containers, and unemployment

9. Implications for port and regional development: Port traffic specialization (and volume) interestingly sensitive to regional socio-economic characteristics Despite transit traffic, port traffic still reflects (at least in part) the adjacent economy where it is handled Specific products have specific economic affinities with the outlying region Path-dependency of port and regional development

10. Thank you for your attention!!! cdu@parisgeo.cnrs.fr