Article

Global maritime transport and logistics: Recent developments and implications for Asian container ports

Dong-Wook Song *
Author Information & Copyright
*Reader in Logistics, Logistics Research Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom. E-mail : D.Song@hw.ac.uk, Tel. : +44-131-451-8206.

© Copyright 2021 Korea Maritime Institute. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Dec 31, 2009

ABSTRACT

Globalisation and transport revolution, logistics integration and the consequent expansion of port area and hinterland in the maritime industry have redefined the functional role of ports in global logistics and supply chains and have generated a new pattern of freight distribution. The rapidly increasing world trade in the last decade has brought about a new round of port (especially, container port) development and caused the restructuring of the world port network as well as more intensive inter-and intra-port competition. This phenomenon again requires a new approach towards port development and related planning. This paper aims at, in a holistic way, providing an overview of the recent developments in maritime transport and logistics in the global scale and discussing strategic implications for the container port industry in the Asian context.

Keywords: global logistics and supply chain; container ports; strategic implications; Asia