Port Sophistication and Country Economic Status: Seaports as Indicators of Economic Development†
Joan Mileski Texas A&M University Galveston—TAMUG, Texas, USA
Cassia Bömer Galvão São Paulo Catholic University—PUC-SP, São Paulo, Brazil
Wyndylyn von Zharen Texas A&M University Galveston—TAMUG, Texas, USA
Introduction
Historically, seaports (hereinafter “ports”) have been critical to a country’s eco- nomic development and serve as a central and necessary component in facili- tating trade. At the same time, the level of sophistication of port operations, infrastructure, and abilities must be congruent with the level of the country’s economy it serves. Ports have undergone important processes of evolution.1 The function of ports has traditionally been related to some aspect of inland growth and economic progress.2 Changes in trade flows and mix, whether im- ports or exports, set the framework for port infrastructure. Each individual product has different logistics characteristics,3 which in turn has an impact
† This article was originally submitted to the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) and accepted for presentation at the 2015 IAME Conference at Kuala Lumpur. The authors thank CAPES/Brazil and the Fulbright Foundation for sponsoring Cassia B. Galvão, Ph.D. student, in this research project. Authors also appreciate the collaboration of Clarkson Research and Dynamar B.I. in the data collection. Corresponding author: [email protected]. 1 T. Wang, K. Cullinane and D.W. Song, Container Port Production and Economic Efficiency (Hamp- shire, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005); R. Sanchez and G. Wilmsmeier, “Contextual Port Devel- opment: A Theoretical Approach,” in Essays on Port Economics, Contribution to Economics, eds. P. Coto-Millán, M.A. Pesquera and J. Castanedo (Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2010). 2 B. Hoyle, “Global and Local Forces in Developing Countries,” Journal for Maritime Research 2, no. 1 (2000): 9–27. 3 L. Chen and T. Notteboom, “Determinants for Assigning Value-Added Logistics Services to Logis- tics Centers Within a Supply Chain Configuration,” Journal of International Logistics and Trade 10, no. 1 (2012): 3–41; B. Kuipers and J. Eenhuizen, “A Framework for the Analysis of Seaport-Based Logistics Parks,” in Proceedings of the First International Conference on Logistics Strategy for Ports, eds. S. Licheng and T. Notteboom (Dalian: Dalian Maritime University Press, 2004), pp. 151–171.
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