ABSTRACT
In the closing sentence of his call for a new paradigm in port studies, Robinson issues the following challenge: ‘the role of ports and the way in which ports position themselves in the new business environments beyond 2001 must be defined within a paradigm of ports as elements in value-driven chain systems, not simply as places with particular, if complex, functions’ (2002, 252). Recent research on the maritime shipping industry has focused upon the emergence of more integrated logistics chains, both within the maritime industry itself and between maritime-and landbased transportation modes (Slack et al. 2002b). The attention to integration along logistics chains parallels and indeed draws upon the wider literature on global commodity chains (Gereffi et al. 2005) and supply chains (Cox et al. 2002). Greater integration of logistics chains raises difficult questions for ports and port-cities seeking to secure or maintain dominant positions within global trade flows.