Assessing the Impact of Disruptive Events on Port Performance and Choice: The Case of Gothenburg

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of a major disruptive event at the port of Gothenburg, Scandinavia’s largest container port. Automatic Identification System (AIS) data is analyzed, in combination with official port statistics on container handling in the four main container ports in Sweden, from 2014–2018. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between container volumes handled and calculated performance metrics at the specific times of the intense labour dispute at the port of Gothenburg during the periods Q2 (2016) and Q4 (2016)–Q2 (2017). The paper concludes that the decline in container volumes handled at Gothenburg over the period is specifically due to fewer ships calling at the port following each of the intense periods of the labour dispute. It is also concluded that the effect on competitor ports in the region were significant in terms of both increased volumes of gateway container traffic and the resulting short-term and medium term impacts on both port user profiles and port efficiency levels.

Supply chain disruptions: flexibility measures when encountering capacity problems in a port conflict

“…During the intense conflict, the container volumes handled in the port of Gothenburg decreased (Svanberg et al. , 2021).…”

“…, 2021). Other ports increased their volumes, but the total number of containers handled in Sweden decreased by 4% (Svanberg et al. , 2021).…”

“…The Gothenburg container port terminal is the largest in Scandinavia. The main causes of the labour dispute are described in Gonzalez-Aregall and Bergqvist (2019) and Svanberg et al. (2021), and importers' mitigation strategies in Lindroth et al.…”

“…Far-reaching implications were reported for importers, exporters (Bengtsson, 2017; Lundin, 2017; Mellwing, 2017; Dagson, 2019) and other stakeholders, for example, hauliers (Wande, 2019) and rail operators (Mellwing, 2017). During the conflict, the port operated at reduced capacity (Gonzalez-Aregall and Bergqvist, 2019; Svanberg et al. , 2021), and Lindroth et al.…”

Quantitative Analysis of Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Texas Maritime Facilities

“…AIS data have also been employed in other data-driven applications. AIS data have been used alongside port container throughput data to assess the impact of disruptions at ports in Sweden ( 29 ). This study showed that AIS data can present the direct quantitative impacts that labor disputes may have on a port’s success.…”