IAPH is inviting ports to become part of the IAPH World Ports Tracker community by responding to a short 8 question survey on a quarterly basis, commencing as of today with a deadline of 17th June for Q2 2022. The first in-depth report will then be written by IAPH’s experts Professors Theo Notteboom and Thanos Pallis and sent to IAPH member participants and survey respondees three weeks later in early July. The cycle will then be repeated with further reports expected on Q3 2022 in October and Q4 2022 in the early New Year.

A regular contribution to the IAPH member flagship magazine Ports & Harbors (see pages 20-25) will elaborate on the non-survey part of the tracker exercise, namely quarterly container port statistics based on S&P Global Port Performance Program data. In future editions the regular article will also provide a summary of the main findings of the previous quarter, with additional sources being referenced.

Interviewed in the the recent Ports and Harbors May-June Edition, Professor Thanos Pallis commented on the experience gained with his colleague Professor Theo Notteboom during the pandemic with the IAPH-WPSP COVID19 Port Economic barometer : “As we processed the data and published it within a maximum of 10 days of receiving it, we could explain exactly what was happening at ports at the time, by region and by activity. We also kept the questions short and to the minimum, a successful formula, which we will keep with this new tracker, with very similar content.”

The World Ports Tracker first report for the container port business, launched at #IAPH2022

Professor Theo Notteboom added : “The second part of the IAPH World Ports Tracker exercise, i.e. this planned survey, will track critical aspects of the evolution of the global port industry to understand the challenges that ports are facing, both regionally and globally.”

Professor Thanos Pallis speaking at the recent IAPH 2022 World Ports Conference in Vancouver

Using structured answering options, the survey will consist of eight consistently repeated questions with three additional questions to be added once per year. The first eight will focus on number of cargo vessel calls expected, current hinterland transport conditions, current capacity utilisation of warehouses/ distribution facilities, cargo throughput expectations, cruise and passenger vessel call size and frequency and staff availability. The three yearly questions put to ports will focus on the situation of planned investments, potential capacity extensions or terminal upgrades, and any major changes foreseen in land use.

Professor Theo Notteboom

As with the IAPH-WPSP COVID-19 Barometer, all information obtained will be treated in a confidential manner and only aggregated data will be published. No reference will be made to individual ports.
Source: IAPH