The impact of globalization on Mediterranean container terminals

The Mediterranean basin has always played an important role in the global maritime scenario due to its key positioning along the main East- West trading routes and its centrality with respect to the Atlantic and North European markets, on the one hand, and to those of Asia and Africa on the other. The growth of container traffic has led to the emergence of new routes and the construction of ever-larger ships and ports. These factors have increased the competitiveness among the Mediterranean ports, which must improve their functionality and productivity to meet new needs and acquire ever-higher market rates. It is estimated that in 2020 Mediterranean ports handled almost 40% of worldwide containerized trade flows. The total throughput of Mediterranean ports has risen from 40,5 million TEUs in 2010 to about 59 million TEUs in 2020, with a 46% increase (UNCTAD). The establishment of a limited number of multi-trade strategic alliances in container shipping is concentrating the demand on a few players. Currently, all major container carriers are involved in one of the three global alliances: 2M (Maersk, MSC; capacity 8,475,700 TEU, share 33.8%, 1,363 ships), Ocean Alliance (Cosco-OOCL, CMA CGM, Evergreen; capacity 7,541,341 TEU, share 30.1%, 1,248 ships), THE Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Yang Ming, HMM, capacity 4,799,815 TEU, share 19.2%, 633 ships). These big players often enter terminal operations, mostly investing in pure transshipment hubs along main shipping services, in order to control multiple supply chain phases. Some companies have their own ‘terminal operating holding’ such as Maersk (APM Terminals) and COSCO Group (COSCO Shipping Ports). The increase of naval gigantism and the reduction of vessel calls due to strategic choices of carriers could influence the competitiveness of smaller container ports that are cut out from the main market trades (e.g. Cagliari) or that have physical limits on their terminals. This paper focuses on the specific case of Mediterranean container ports, analyzing the evolution of the containerized traffic and how the strategies of the main carriers are affecting container terminal policies.