Table 1. Share of individual ports in total throughput in the Hamburg -Le Havre Range,1980 and 1995
*including North Sea Canal Area
Source: Rotterdam Municipal Port Authority(Kreukels,Wever,1998,p.5)
The positioning of ports nowadays becomes first of all dictated by the flows of goods oversea, and subsequently by the transshipment and further transport to and from the (European) Hinterland. The seaside connections mirror the tough competition between the most important shipping lines, concentrated in alliances and the mainports: Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Hamburg. Here, one sees a gradually leveling among the mainports instead of the increase of only the biggest one (Rotterdam). Besides this leveling at the level of mainports one can notice the start of smaller or even new ports, brought into the system by the main shipping lines to prevent a too strong dependency on the mainport (s). In this way Felixstowe became an important smaller port. Also ports in Southern Europe: Algeciras (Spain) and Gioia Tauro (Italy), new ports, were activated by shipping lines for transshipment of goods, brought until recently mainly to Roterdam, Antwerp or Hamburg and from these ports to even Southern Europe. Another stragegy used by the shipping lines is the‘build-in feeding', when one and the same intercontinental container ship, coming from East Asia or from North or South America, calls for instance first at Antwerp, then Rotterdam,and finally Hamburg (note: feeding by short sea transport along the western seacoast is in (Western) Europe a marginal mode of transport, compared with transport by truck, barges and train over land).
To summarize the foregoing: the competition between the mainports and the alliances of the main shipping lines results in a trend towards a certain degree of leveling with regard to the difference of mainports themselves and other ports, while at the same time the distinction between mainports (Rotterdam - the biggest one and also first ranking in the world -, Antwerp and Hamburg) and other lesser ranking and smaller ports, appears to remain characteristic for the ports in Wesern Europe certainly for the middle long term.
Besides the basic pattern of ports, with different shares with regard to bulk and general cargo, and container transport, it is important to realize that the ports in North West Europe, as in other parts of the world, have more specific profiles, when explored more closely. For instance, particular ports are specialized in roll on and roll, in ferries (Zeebrugge), in the transport of cars (Ghent, Bremen), in the relation to oil transport (Rotterdam, Antwerp), with regard to specific(parts of continents, as East Asia (Hamburg).
The most important issue for the sea-side connections, seen from a stance in Europe, is the evolution in the shares in intercontinental east- west transport (the most important at the moment) and the north-south transport (which shows a slight growth, but is not pronounced compared with the flows east-west). In the short term the relative accessibility, especially for the biggest containerships, is an important isssue. Rotterdam has the best carts here, while Antwerp and Hamburg meet serious limits, given the fysical condition of the port with regard to accessibility from and to the sea. However, the assessment of what this means for these ports, and a prediction of their share in container transport in the future, is not unanimous (Baird, 1996; Baird, 1997).
While connections oversea and especially the share in the flow of goods in the intercontinental seatransport is at the basis of the relative positions of ports in the Hamburg - Le Havre range, nevertheless the competition between these ports is more and more one with regard to their share and grip on the Hinterland.
