The Geography of Transportation:

How Atlantica can make the most of it

Dated: 17/6/08

In a fascinating exploration of the trends in port development along the east coast of North America, Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Department of Economics and Geography at Hofstra University in New York lays bare the challenge facing the Port of Halifax in the very near term.
Go big or go home.

With the continued need to service the largest possible market in the most effective and efficient manner combined with the realities of ever tighter margins because of increasingly fuel costs, the gap between the big ports and the not so big ports is getting wider.

Rodrigue calls this "divergence’. In essence it is the widening gap between ports that have fully integrated their supply chains to serve the largest possible market at the lowest price, and those that have not. His warning is that Halifax has not. The challenge for the Port community and indeed for all of Atlantica is can we, and can we in time?

Read the full commentary to see the reality on the east coast today, the options for growth in Atlantica, and the real challenges that must be overcome.

To view a copy of Professor Rodrigue's PowerPoint slideshow, click here.

To read Transport georgraphy should follow the freight, an article in Science Direct by Jean-Paul Rodrigue, click here.

To read Port Hinterland Divergence along the North American Eastern Seaboard by Jean-Paul Rodrigue, click here. 

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