|
15-16 Oct 2020 Le Havre (France)
|
Call of paperMaritime transport is the backbone of international trade, an element driving globalization. Following the slowdown in 2008, port traffic worldwide started to recover. Over 80 % of world trade in volume terms and over 70 % in value terms is done by sea; these proportions are even higher in most developing countries. This continuous growth in maritime trade raises important questions concerning the development of the role of hubs in worldwide transport and the value chain, such as globalization, trade and development, environmental sustainability, energy security and climate change. Innovations in freight transport have facilitated the development of flexible distribution and production systems, both locally and globally. They have fostered the emergence of an increasingly specialized and globalized economy. At the same time, maritime networks, as well as their underlying policies and strategies, have become more and more complex. Aside from these market issues, structural changes in international trade and developments in maritime transport have had a direct incidence on ports and their environments. Consequently, these elements and their recent characteristics must be examined. Today, development in worldwide maritime transport is the result of a momentum combining the intensification and redistribution of international trade flows and technological progress in keeping with due respect for the environment and the geopolitical and security situation. The strategies of shipping companies in search of economies of scale have led in the first instance to naval gigantism; this is now demonstrated by alliances between ship-owners. They need to move beyond these aspects alone by integrating the central role of cargo handling companies in the performance of terminals and worldwide port reconstruction, or indeed rapid and recent developments in new shipping sectors as well as new cruise sectors. The DEVPORT symposium is inter-disciplinary (geography, history, development, town planning, economy, international freight transport in general, etc.). During the symposium, the different disciplinary and methodological approaches will be compared. Therefore, authors are invited to submit their articles in relation to the following themes (non-exhaustive list):
Questions discussed will include the institutional status of ports, the challenges and consequences of the choices favoured. Above and beyond the particularities proper to each state and each port, there exists an underlying worldwide convergence in the adaptation of port management regimes with a liberalized economic and legal environment. However, there are two complementary dynamics involved in port development. The first, which is organizational in nature, calls for coordination of different functions of a logistical, industrial, market and administrative nature so as to harness and optimize flows. The second, decisional in nature, implements the exercise of authority, linked to the supervision of activities and the formulation of strategies to develop the port authority and its adaptation to change. In this context, the notion of a port community is of particular interest, indeed that of a “port place”. The rationale of private and public actors must be taken into consideration. A study of the decision-making processes will make it possible to shed light not only on the dynamics of cooperation but also on conflicting rationales. The objective is to have a better understanding of collaborative practices that may or may not exist, to gain an insight into how recent mutations in maritime economy affect these communities of actors locally, to question the role of public authority in the ports.
The development of the port system seems to be concentrated in large ports, which attract considerable container traffic. These large ports handle an overwhelming majority of the cargo transported. They are therefore a relevant unit to analyse the points where the various scales, both local and global, meet. The study of large ports dominates research on maritime transport. Yet the port environment is also characterized by the permanence of medium-sized ports which often operate in less extensive hinterland areas, notably in areas considered as peripheral. These ports have not been reviewed much in maritime geography and even less from an economic approach. However, there are questions concerning territorial development which justify a deeper examination of the inclusion of these ports in a globalized maritime system and their territory. Besides, maritime experts know that large tonnage is not automatically synonymous with power and port influence. This procedure also has its own limits such as the failure to take into account the added value of a commodity. In effect, criteria other than the tonnage of cargoes handled can be examined to measure port activity and vitality, which is the case, for example, of the regular lines or employment linked to maritime activity. Furthermore, the notion of size should be put into perspective according to the diversity of maritime seaboards (a small Chinese port might look like a large south American port) or analyse how concentration can create difficulties for the “minor” ports of the network.
The links between maritime transport and the environment are on two levels. In effect, the impacts of maritime transport are often severe, most notably in terms of emissions. Adapting maritime transport can be carried out just as well by regulatory expansion as by technical adaptation. The development of LNG used as fuel and the appearance of new types of engines are illustrative of these. On the other hand, global warming has participated in the creation of a new framework impacting maritime traffic and port infrastructures. Therefore, melting sea ice in the Arctic which started with climate change could open up new maritime routes enabling ships to avoid passing through the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal and thus considerably shorten their routes.
Ports are veritable “functional hubs” and subject to competition. They are faced with demands from ship owners who themselves have to compete with shippers looking for a fast, safe and less costly “door to door” transport service. In this context, the issue of reinforcing inter-modal relationships between the port and its hinterland, or indeed its foreland, is essential for competitiveness. This inter-modality, which should guarantee door to door transport, passes by the implementation of infrastructures such as corridors and dry ports. It also aims to integrate the strategies of transport companies and/or logistics so as to guarantee the integration of networks and services. Nevertheless, competition from the road transport mode hinders the development of short-sea shipping. There are many possibilities of development but the conditions of its competitiveness must be examined closely, notably by analysing the geographical, economic, and geopolitical context of each project. Moreover, port policies and strategies have become increasingly complex and require diverse and multidisciplinary angles of approach.
The largest port complex in France, and the fourth largest in Europe, is concentrated in Normandie. It is in competition with ports of the “Northern Range” in its near hinterland. This dynamic represents a challenge not only to Normandie ports, but also to the whole of the region. There are, in fact, plentiful relations between ports and territories. The territory must constitute a resource in the economic development of the port. The port must participate in the urban/regional development in return. It is not a question of dealing with two distinct processes, which would interact episodically and indirectly, but to identify the resources of mutual enrichment. The great ports (Rouen and Le Havre) handle an overwhelming majority of cargoes transported by sea routes. They constitute a relevant unit to analyse where the points of various scales, both local and global, meet. However, despite the process of port concentration, the port’s ecosystem in Normandie is characterized also by the permanence of small ports which perform more local functions and serve a less extensive hinterland. This territorial dimension finds a particular resonance in the context of the reorganization or fusion of the region and the affirmation of this stage of port governance.
The proposals for communication (in French or English) should be made before March 16 1st, 2020 here: https://devport2020.sciencesconf.org/submission/submit
Paying attention to the following instructions: - one-page summary on A4 maximum, 12 point Times New Roman type, - title, author(s), function(s), affiliation(s), - key words (maximum five), - short CV.
Papers in French can be submitted to the Cahiers Scientifiques du transport as part of a special issue.
Papers in English may be submitted to Regional Formation and Development Studies as part of a special issue or to Transactions on Maritime Science.
|
| Online user: 14 | Privacy |
|
