port logistics
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PurposeThe paper models the effect of spatial clustering on various dimensions of inter-firm competitive rivalry among port logistics firms using Porter's five forces model.Design/methodology/approachA survey-based quantitative approach is adopted to collect data from logistics firms, which are directly or indirectly dependent on the Port of Melbourne in Australia. A structural equation modelling (SEM) technique is used to examine the theorised relationships between various dimensions of inter-firm competitive rivalry and the tendency of spatial clustering of logistics firms in the vicinity of Port of Melbourne.FindingsThe results indicate that the inter-firm competitive rivalry increases significantly when logistics firms are spatially clustered. This effect is further augmented when they cluster around the port. Co-location of firms near the port tends to increase “bargaining power of buyers”, whilst indirectly affecting “competitive rivalry” via “threats of substitutes”. This indicates that co-location enhances the bargaining power of buyers through the greater availability of substitute services that in turn promotes competitive rivalry among firms. However, co-location has an insignificant effect on “barriers to entry” and “bargaining power of suppliers”. Low entry barrier thus favours high competitive rivalry among firms. Hence, this paper validates the Porter's cluster and five forces models that confirm the positive effect of port logistics clusters (PLCs) on bargaining power of buyers and indirect effect on competitive rivalry partially mediated through threats of substitutes.Practical implicationsThis study provides empirically grounded evidence for firms to evaluate co-location decision choices and help buyers and sellers to devise business strategies to enhance inter-firm competitive rivalry and bargaining power.Originality/valueThis is the first systematic attempt to empirically validate Porter's five forces model in the context of PLC. Furthermore, the conceptualisation of PLC concept both as spatial and functional constructs (i.e. dependency on port) is novel. This study thus has broadened the meaning of cluster from a geographic entity to a more useful functional construct to reflect inter-firm dependencies.

The Iberian Peninsula represents the second European producer and the eighth world producer of vehicles in 2020. The pandemic of SARS-Cov2 introduced severe challenges for the worldwide population and for the industrial production and supply chains. The car carrier shipping sector has not been studied in depth in the Maritime Transportation and Port Logistics literature. This research pays special attention to the performance of this traffic in the Iberian Peninsula in the pre-pandemic era and under COVID-19 pandemic conditions, in which seven ports with car-carrier ship traffic in the Iberian Peninsula are analyzed. First, a dynamic portfolio analysis about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the evolution of competitive positions of Iberian Peninsula ports is performed. Second, studies of the seasonality patterns of vehicle movements in ports of the Iberian Peninsula were carried out using time series of the periods from 2012 to 2019 and from 2012 to 2020. The Seasonal Variation Index (SVI) was employed to determine the seasonality of vehicle traffic in the periods considered and analyses were performed independently for both embarking and disembarking traffic. Important conclusions are revealed, e.g., during a year of COVID-19, the seven ports had decreased vehicle movements for disembarking traffic and only one port increased the traffic for embarking traffic. Furthermore, COVID-19 introduced important changes in the seasonality patterns of vehicle movements during the first months of the pandemic.

This article aims to perform the logistic viability analysis of PAC for West Africa using the AHP multicriteria method. This port contributes largely in the country's economy through customs and tax revenues, the formation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and also in international trade. Four criteria (quality of infrastructure and services, equipment productivity, and logistics cost of cargo) were modeled. With the result, the port infrastructure criterion is most important, followed by the port equipment criterion. Showing the importance of each port logistics viability criterion (infrastructure, service, equipment, cost), the alternative long-term logistics viability is preferable to the medium-term and short-term. The application of the AHP shows in its result that for long-term port logistics viability, it is preferable to invest more in modern and quality infrastructure and equipment.