Competitiveness in the port industry: an insight into the cases of Venice and Copenhagen

8 Chapter I Introduction This research is an empirical study about the competitive strategies implemented by the Copenhagen Malmӧ Port and the Port of Venice. The work is articulated in two chapters. The first one is an introduction to the issue; it explains the changes in the global transportation industry and examines some responses provided by the literature in terms of what kind of strategies ports are implementing or should implement. Such a preamble is needed, since over the last decades, worldwide transportation, and especially the maritime sector, has undergone several radical changes which have re-shaped the competition in the port industry as well as the role of single ports in global transportation patterns. The implications in ports competitive strategies are substantial. Under these conditions, the comparison between the two case-studies is discussed in the second chapter. Even though the ports of Copenhagen-Malmӧ and Venice are two harbors poles apart in Europe, they can be compared under some interesting points of view. First of all, they both are medium-sized ports; thus it is possible to compare them because they have similar throughput dimensions. As a consequence, they have to face analogous issues in terms of efficiency, lack of economies of scale, maritime and foreland accessibility, impossibility to accommodate big trans-oceanic vessels and the likes. Therefore it is interesting to analyze how they behave in parallel situations. The likeness of challenges depends also on the fact that the two harbors are operational in almost the same business areas: containers, liquid and dry bulks, roro, ferries, cruise ships and logistics. There are only a few exceptions, like for instance, the new cars handling segment which is operated by the Copenhagen-Malmӧ Port, but which the Port of Venice lacks. Thus again, a comparison among strategies and behaviors is possible and interesting. The different business areas are only mentioned when they deserve an analysis. The cruise ships segment is of particular notice since both Copenhagen and Venice are growing cruising destinations. Also logistics is interesting because it is one