Source: Notteboom, T. and J-P Rodrigue (2009) “Foreland-Based Regionalization: Integrating Intermediate Hubs with Port Hinterlands”.

Deviation from the Main Shipping Route of Mediterranean Container Ports

The Mediterranean Sea provides a good example where intermediate hubs have contributed to the repositioning of the region within global trade flows. In the West Med, extensive hub-feeder container systems and shortsea shipping networks emerged since the mid 1990s to cope with the increasing volumes and to connect to other European port regions. Terminals are typically owned, in whole or in part, by carriers which are efficiently using these facilities. Marsaxlokk on Malta, Gioia Tauro, Cagliari and Taranto in Italy and Algeciras in Spain act as turntables in a growing sea-sea transshipment business in the region. These sites were selected to serve continents, not regions, for transshipping at the crossing points of trade lanes, and for potential productivity and cost control. They are typically located far away from the immediate hinterland that historically guided port selection.