Struggling for Leadership: Antwerp-Rotterdam Port Competition between

Struggling for Leadership: Antwerp-Rotterdam Port Competition between 1870-200

Contributions to Economics http://www.springer.de/cgi-bin/search_book.pl?series=126 2 Georg Bol/Gholamreza Nakhaeizadeh / Karl-Heinz Vollmer (Eds.) Risk Measurements, Econometrics and Neural Networks 1998. ISBN 3-7908-1152-1 Joachim Winter Investment and Exit Decisions at the Plant Level 1998. ISBN 3-7908-1154-8 Bernd Meyer Intertemporal Asset Pricing 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1159-9 Uwe Walz Dynamics of Regional Integration 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1185-8 Michael Carlberg European MonetaryUnion 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1191-2 Giovanni Galizzi/ Luciano Venturini (Eds.) Vertical Relationships and Coordination in the Food System 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1192-0 Gustav A. Horn/Wolfgang Scheremet / Rudolf Zwiener Wages and the Euro 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1199-8 Dirk Willer The Development of EquityCapital Market s in Transition Economies 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1198-X Karl Matthias Weber Innovation Diffusion and Political Control of EnergyTechnologies 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1205-6 Heike Link et al. The Costs of Road Infrastructur e and Congestion in Europe 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1201-3 Simon Duindam MilitaryConscriptio n 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1203-X Bruno Jeitziner Political Economyof the Swiss National Bank 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1209-9 Irene Ring et al. (Eds.) Regional Sustainability 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1233-1 Katharina Müller/Andreas Ryll/ Hans-Jürgen Wagener (Eds.) Transformation of Social Security: Pensions in Central-Eastern Europe 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1210-2 Stefan Traub Framing Effects in Taxation 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1240-4 Pablo Coto-Millä n Utilityan d Production 1999. ISBN 3-7908-1153-X Frank Riedel Imperfect Informatio n and Investor Heterogeneityin the Bond Market 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1247-1 Kirsten Ralf Busines Cycles 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1245-5 Michele Bagella/Leonardo Becchett i (Eds.) The Competitive Advantage of Industrial Districts 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1254-4 Frank Bohn MonetaryUnion and Fiscal Stability 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1266-8 Jaime Behar Cooperation and Competition in a Common Market 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1280-3 Michael Malakellis Integrated Macro-Micro-Modellin g Under Rational Expectations 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1274-9 Stefan Baumgärtner Ambivalent Joint Production and the Natural Environment 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1290-0 Henri Capron, Wim Meeusen (Eds.) The National Innovation System of Belgium 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1308-7 Tobias Miarka Financial Intermediation and Deregulation 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1307-9 Chisato Yoshida Illegal Immigratio n and Economic Welfare 2000. ISBN 3-7908-1315-X continued on page 335

Reginald Loyen Erik Buyst Greta Devos (Eds.) Struggling for Leadership: Antwerp-Rotterdam Port Competition between 1870-200 With 44 Figures and 40 Tables Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH

Series Editors Wemer A. Miiller Martina Bihn Editors Reginald Loyen Professor Dr. Erik Buyst University of Leuven Center for Economic Studies Naamsestraat 69 3000 Leuven Belgium reginald.loyen @econ.kuleuven.ac.be erik. buyst@econ.kuleuven.ac.be Professor Dr. Greta Devos University of Antwerp Center for Business History Prinsstraat 13 2000 Antwerp Belgium greta.devos@ufsia.ac.be ISSN 1431-1933 ISBN 978-3-7908-1524-5 Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Struggling for leadership: Antwerp-Rotterdam port competition between 1870-2000; proceedings of the International Conference on Comparative Antwerp-Rotterdam Port History, held at Antwerp, 10-11 May, 200 l / ed.: Reginald Loyen... - Heidelberg: Physica-VerI., 2003 (Contributions to economics) ISBN 978-3-7908-1524-5 ISBN 978-3-642-57485-6 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-57485-6 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Physica-Verlag. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003 Originally published by Physica-Verlag Heidelberg New York in 2003 The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Softcover Design: Erich Kirchner, Heidelberg SPIN 10888222 88/2202-5 4 3 2 l O - Printed on acid-free and non-aging paper

Preface The present volume contains the proceedings of an international conference on the economic history of the seaports of Antwerp and Rotterdam (1870-2000). This venue was held at Antwerp on 10-11 May 2001 and was hosted by the Antwerp Port Authority. This international conference aimed at confronting the development of both ports. In the course of the last century and a half, economic growth in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam has been staggering. Maritime economic historians, economists and geographers alike have investigated the development of both ports extensively, but separately. So far, only a limited number of attempts have been made to analyse Rotterdam-Antwerp port history from a comparative perspective. The papers presented at the conference provide a challenging starting point to ascertain how and why both ports reacted differently to virtually the same economic and political stimuli. By bringing together both historians, economists and lawyers with different fields of interest, we have attempted to put the history of the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam in a broader international and comparative perspective. The conference's "secondary" aim was to presenthe final results of a four-year research project into the twentieth century history of the port of Antwerp. After four years, all participating researchers agreed that the need for a thorough, comparative and up to date scientific survey of the development of the port of Antwerp was very high. Simultaneously the conference introduced a new, two-year comparative research project on the history of the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. The four-year project actually started in 1997. The Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders (FWO) funded three full-time researchers, while the Antwerp Port Authority paid for another extra researcher. The project's official title read: "functional shifts in the port of Antwerp 1900-1994 with attention to macroeconomic, micro-economic, political-institutional and social aspects" (hence "functional shift project"). In short, the project aimed at providing an historical understanding of how the port of Antwerp managed to develop from a monofunctional port at the dawn of the twentieth century to a multifunctional port today. In order to meet this objective, a multidisciplinary approach was deemed most suited and facilitated a division of the workload into four more or less equal determinants of port development: macro-economic aspects (i.e. cargo flows; University of Leuven), micro-economic aspects (i.e. land policy; University of Antwerp), political-institutional aspects (University of Gent) and employment (University of Gent). Additionally, two researchers (University of Antwerp) worked on company networks and on an econometric analysis of throughput. Each researcher's final results have been reproduced in the present volume. From its conception, the functional shift project concentrated on Antwerp only. This also turned out to be its main weakness. Therefore this conference had a marked comparative dimension. Firstly, this allowed researchers to better assess Antwerp's historical development. Secondly, it introduced the two-year Antwerp-Rotterdam research project, which started in 2001. This endeavour in-

VI Preface volved the universities of Leuven and Rotterdam and received funds of the Flemish Dutch Research Committee (VNC). Officially known as the "Rotterdam and Antwerp: a century and a half of port competition in the Rhine- Scheidt-Meuse delta"-project, it aimed more specifically at comparing the development of the port of Rotterdam and the port of Antwerp (1860-2000). Attempting to ascertain why certain cargo flows choose Antwerp and not Rotterdam (or vice versa), the Rotterdam-Antwerp project has - in a nutshell - been focusing on cargo-flows, port dues, handling charges, freight rates and value added creation. We would like to thank Dr. Jan Blomme of the Antwerp Port Authority for kindly hosting the conference and for his continuous enthusiastic support. Additionally, we kindly acknowledge the generous support of our sponsors: the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders (FWO), the Flemish Dutch Research Committee (VNC) and the Antwerp Port Authority. We are grateful to Professor Lars Scholl, Professor Jaap Bruijn and Professor David M. Williams who have supported our research efforts from the very beginning. A special word of thanks to the members of the scientific committee, presiding over the conference: Dr. Ferry de Goey, Professor Hilde Meersman, Professor Paul van de Laar, Professor Eddy Van de Voorde and Professor Eric Van Haute. The conference was also well served by commentators on the individual papers. Therefore a sincere thank you to the many referees: Professor David Starkey, Dr. Honore Paelinck, Professor Hugo Roos, Dr. Adrian Jarvis, Professor Sarah Palmer, Professor Fernand Suykens, Dr. John Barzman, Professor Gordon Jackson and Professor Lewis Fischer. A number of people helped out at more than one occasion. Thanks to Jean Pierre Verschueren and lise Stalmans of the Antwerp Port Authority's public relations team for smoothly solving the many practical and organizational problems. Filip Heremans of the University of Leuven deserves every credit for maintaining the conference website. Bart Sas and Sabine Janssens of the University of Antwerp, who helped out with technical or practical matters at a number of occasions, should also be mentioned here. Last but not least we thank Francine Olenaed (University of Leuven) for her technical assistance with the volume's layout. Leuven, May 2002 The editors, Reginald LOYEN Erik BUYST Greta DEVOS

Table of Contents Preface v Introduction Reginald Loyen, Erik Buyst, Greta Devos and Jan Blomme Recent trends in maritime and port history David M. Williams 11 Throughput cluster Throughput in the port of Antwerp (1901-2000): an integrated functional approach Reginald Loyen Port traffic in Rotterdam: the competitive edge of a Rhine-port (1880-1914) 63 Paul Th. van de Laar Commentary 87 David 1. Starkey 29 Port throughput and international trade: have port authorities any degrees of freedom left? 91 Sabine Janssens, Hilde Meersman and Eddy Van de Voorde Commentary 115 Honore Paelinck Thirty-five years of containerization in Antwerp and Rotterdam: structural changes in the container handling market 117 Theo Notteboom The Kempen nexus. The spatial-economic development of Rotterdam and Antwerp 143 Arjen van Klink The Antwerp port: elements of spatial planning 161 Jan Blomme

VIII Table of Contents Port authority cluster Port and politics in Antwerp: a prudent approach Frank Seberechts The end of the sea Henk Molenaar Commentary Adrian Jarvis 171 179 195 Land-use policy in the port of Antwerp (1870-1994) Greta Devos Port of Rotterdam: land-use policy during the twentieth century Ferry de Goey Commentary Sarah Palmer 199 221 235 Evolution of the Rotterdam port authority's position Henrik Stevens 237 Port user cluster "Much ado about nothing?" Reorganising the hiring system and decasualization in the port of Antwerp during the 1960s: motives, obstacles, outcome 257 Stephan Vanfraechem "Dock-work is a skilled profession". Decasualization and the Rotterdam labour market (1945-1970) 275 Erik Nijhoj Commentary 289 John Barzman The first mechanization wave in coal and ore handling as an example of patterns of technological innovation in the port of Rotterdam 299 Hugo van Driel Commentary 321 Gordon Jackson

Table of Contents IX Research agenda Opportunities in comparative Antwerp-Rotterdam port history Erik Buyst and Reginald Loyen 329 Annex Maps of port of Antwerp and Rotterdam 333