The growth in intermodal transport has led to an increase in competition between ports. Other factors, such as the globalisation of the economy, European Union interest in integrating the port system into the Transeuropean Transport Network and the reform of the Spanish port system, have encouraged the Spanish Port Authorities to develop competitive strategies to extend their hinterlands. These strategies have often focused on improving port infrastructure in order to improve the efficiency of their services. In this paper, we analyse the extent to which investment expenditure has led to improvements in efficiency and how far this improved efficiency has increased the port's ability to attract traffic. To do so, we use DEA and study inter-port traffic redistribution from the land side. The analysis focused on the Ports of Bilbao and Valencia not only because they are very important in the Spanish port system but also because they both stand out for their investment expenditure, which has led to quite different results. We conclude by discussing the consequences of investment and port location for efficiency and the capacity to attract traffic, respectively. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2007) 9, 254–267. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100183

PurposeThis paper aims to establish the determinants of production in the Spanish Designation of Origin (DO) area for Cava wine and forecasts sales to establish vineyard area variations that maintain market equilibrium.Design/methodology/approachBy applying a vector autoregressive (VAR) model, the authors forecast demand and the consequent requirements for base wine production.FindingsThe results show that Cava sales determine the base wine supply. After forecasting demand and the consequent requirements for base wine, the authors’ results show that, to avoid oversupply, the vineyard area for Cava wine should not be increased.Practical implicationsThe paper develops a simple and effective method for DOs affected by the current European wine plantation regulations to forecast from a supply and demand perspective and their surface needs in response to market changes.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature because, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study has investigated the determinants of Cava supply and demand or defines a model to assess the effects of changes in growing areas. The model is applicable to other European protected designations of origin wines and would help policymakers to accurately establish vine planting authorizations.