Changes in world trade routes: an opportunity for secondary ports?[Transformation des routes du commerce mondial : une opportunité pour les ports secondaires ?]

Over the last thirty years, the increasing globalisation of economic exchanges has contributed to the emergence of a network of main ports linked together by maritime transport and, in particular, the lines developed by the major shipping lines or the alliances they have formed. In addition to Asian ports, and particularly Chinese ports given the national port strategy, this network of main ports has also been structured by investments made by shipping lines in port terminals intended to become their regional hubs and thus facilitate the massification of flows. From these hubs, feeders serve other ports, giving rise to a form of classification within these main global ports. This organisation has helped to shape the global value chains, or world trade routes, which are both the medium and the result of globalisation. The covid-19 health crisis, the ensuing economic crisis and current geopolitical tensions are all contributing to a possible transformation of these global value chains. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine the possible impacts on maritime transport, with a focus on the renewed role of secondary ports. Based on the results of a survey of around one hundred shippers (supply chain management), three elements will be highlighted. The first concerns changes in purchasing strategies, with, at the very least, a "China+1" strategy, which may extend to industrial relocations. The challenge is to examine the possible locations for these relocations and to consider the potential advantages of the secondary ports of origin. In considering these changes of port of origin, the second is maritime transport and the relevance of having smaller ships to link these secondary ports of origin to secondary ports of destination, in a model comparable to that of charter airlines. Finally, and this constitutes the third element, the question of the reintegration of maritime transport arises, which accentuates the relevance of the choice of secondary ports.