1. The decision-making process of Maasvlakte II (1993-2009)
18th Annual Congress of the European Business History Association in Utrecht, April 2014
THE PAST IS ALWAYS PRESENT IN THE PORT
The decision-making process of Maasvlakte II ( )
Dirk M. Koppenol MA
RESEARCH PROBLEM: Maasvlakte II is a 2.3 billion euro port expansion of the Port of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe. During the decision-making process, fierce conflicts arose. Not only, between the Port Management and the nature preservation and environment pressure groups, but also, between the local and the national governments. In 2008, despite these conflicts, the port expansion was executed with full support of all actors involved.
THEORY: Theories on decision-making processes focus mostly on procedures rather than on persons involved. Moreover, the time dimension is often neglected. However, agency and history matter. The first research results show that support of key-ministers and socio-economic developments formed the basis on which crucial decisions were made.
MAIN QUESTION: Why did fierce resistance during the decision-making process of Maasvlakte II ( ), change into full support for the project?
METHOD:
Comparative research: Maasvlakte II is compared to three earlier port expansions ( ) and another Dutch megaproject, the Betuweroute (1990s).
Multi-actor approach: this research focusses on the local and national governments, the private sector and the nature preservation and environmental pressure groups.
Multi-disciplinary research: methods form history, economics and sociology are applied.
past
present
PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS:
Negative experiences with port expansions in the past delayed the decision-making process.
National policy created a path dependence, resulting eventually in the construction of the project.
Eventually, only a few actors rallied the support for Maasvlakte II.
Dirk M. Koppenol