The Performance of Seaport Clusters - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

Chapter 8 – Clustering in Seaports 87
modes make storage necessary (Rijsenbrij, 2000). This necessity of storage is a reason for
locating logistics activities (such as blending and re-packing) in seaports. A second reason
is that by locating in a port transport costs can be reduced. Both reasons explain the
presence of logistics activities in ports and show that these activities are strongly related to
the arrival of goods and ships in seaports. Thus, all logistics activities are included in the
port cluster.
In the three case studies port experts were interviewed and answered a set of survey
questions. One of the survey questions addressed the strength of linkages between the five
groups of port related activities. The results are given in Table 17.
Table 17: Integration of the five components in the cluster (N=99)
Component Integration in cluster
Cargo handling 3.9
Transport 4.0
Logistics 3.5
Manufacturing 3.1
Trade 2.9
Figures on a scale from 1 (not integrated) to 5 (very integrated)
The following conclusions can be drawn from these figures:
• Firms in cargo handling, transport and logistics are the most integrated in the cluster
• Trade is less integrated in the cluster.
• Not all firms have strong relations with activities in other components; the web of
relations is relatively dense.
Further evidence for the strength of relations between cargo handling, transport and logistics
stems from a survey question to find out more about the activities of the firms of port
experts. The vast majority of firms that provide cargo handling, also provide transport and
logistics services. This also shows the strength of linkages.