ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the acting capacity of regional stakeholders who seek to improve the situation for their local shippers. There is the simple fact of the cost of transporting and handling the empty container, which must be recovered by the shipping line. Regions with empty container depots enjoy access while those with insufficient flows and insufficiently concentrated and connected mobility providers do not allow the agglomeration of such necessary resources in Scotland. This results in significant unproductive and induced mobility, leading to excessive costs not faced by better-connected regions. The chapter shows how northern ports are pursuing ambitious development strategies to insert themselves as second-tier hubs, such as Liverpool on the west coast and Teesport on the east coast. These will challenge the role for Scottish ports without sufficient capacity for ever-increasing feeder vessel sizes. The Scottish government operates grant schemes for both infrastructure and operating costs involved in shifting freight flows from road to rail and water.
