Transformation of port terminal operations: from the local to the global

The bases for the internationalization of the port terminal industry are explored. While the industry is being transformed by the penetration of transnational companies, there are important regional differences between Europe and North America. In Europe, the lead actors are companies that have arisen out of the industry itself, whereas in North America, most of the new actors are shipping lines. The consequences of this differentiation are substantial, since they represent fundamentally different types of organization, one being a product of horizontal integration based on multi‐user berth operations, the other being an outcome of vertical integration and oriented towards dedicated berth use. The dissimilarities are explained in terms of governance, competition and capacity. Intraregional differences are also examined through the case of France, where an unwillingness to open French ports to global operators has affected the performance of those ports. The paper concludes by discussing some of the implications of the findings, including the issue of monopoly control of ports and the potential for conflict between the two models of contemporary cargo handling.