Solución numérica

Xiamen Island is connected to the outside by Xiamen Bridge and Haicang Bridge.

Xiamen interviewees had a common understanding that poor infrastructure to connect ports and hinterland is one of the main factors that hinder Xiamen‘s port performance.

Actually, 16 (80%) of the 20 interviewees commented on the poor physical infrastructure connecting Xiamen ports and the hinterland, especially the inadequate railways. Here are some quotations:

“Xiamen is blocked by mountains around. Currently there is only one rail to connect Xiamen and other places. The communication infrastructure is poor. Almost all of our customers would not consider railway for transport, as it is too slow. Almost all links to ports rely on road, and the highways are limited due to natural conditions.”

Interviewee 1, one 3PL Manager

“There is hardly any intermodal in Xiamen. People know it as a concept but also know it does not work in Xiamen, because the physical infrastructure is not in place. Many companies even do not have loading/unloading platforms for containers, which makes intermodal quite difficult.”

Interviewee 6, a retailer Manager

“The infrastructure in the whole Fujian Province is rather poor. There is not sufficient quality infrastructure from the ports to the hinterland. The poor rail and highway infrastructure cause higher transport cost to the shippers than other ports.”

Interviewee 15, a manufacturer Manager

The interviewees noted that insufficient rail and road had caused slow transport in the whole province. Most of the cargoes from inland China do not come from or go to Xiamen due to lack of proper transport infrastructure. The province needs to improve the transport infrastructure very urgently as it is very critical to develop port performance. Xiamen is similar to Shanghai in that neither port has sufficient cargo sources in the city itself. However, Shanghai has attracted much more cargo than Xiamen because Shanghai has good quality infrastructure that brings cargo easily from hinterlands. As Interviewee 11, a port manager, pointed out,

“Although Xiamen has a good traffic system by sea and by air, and the sea-rail transport has already been put into use to connect Jiangxi economic hinterland and Xiamen, there are few cross-provincial railways and they are low-grade. The main highways have not been connected to the port areas; there are few main roads to support, which has caused too much pressure on communications and there is serious bottleneck between ports and the city. The lack of transport capacity has constrained the extension of Xiamen‟s economic hinterlands towards the inland, and constrained the logistics distribution efficiency within the region accordingly.”

However, Xiamen interviewees had a positive assessment of Xiamen‘s aviation. Gaoqi International Airport has enabled Xiamen to link with other cities in China and worldwide. Interviewee 7 said,

“The distance between Gaoqi International Airport and port is about 10km. To my knowledge, no other ports are so close to the airport. This has brought convenience for intermodal development”.

Although the current landside links of Xiamen ports are poor, Xiamen has set off an upsurge of urban construction, including ports, railways, highways, urban transport, which has made a significant improvement. These changes are initiating new opportunities for Xiamen.

As for the Humber ports‘ physical infrastructure, some interviewees commented that the general framework was good. The Humber estuary had good communications and good shipping links to the close continent. As interviewee 12 stated,

“The most important aspect in this area is location, good access by rail and road, good access for marina access, and ports can handle large ships.”

Trade and industry in the Humber were boosted by the arrival of the rail link with Leeds and other railways including the Hull, Grimsby and Barnsley Railway and opening of associated docks to break the perceived local monopoly of the North Eastern Railway in the 1840s, according to one interviewee. The Humber case exemplifies that transport is important for trade and port performance.

However, the shipping lines that link the Humber and other ports in the world are not satisfactory. There is no direct line to link the Humber and the Far East or Middle East.

This is why the Humber local companies would choose the southern ports for trading.

Regarding landside links, the interviewees had some negative comments on the port related road and rail in Hull, and port-related rail in Immingham.

“The basic framework of port related infrastructure is quite good. However, it is widely known that some roads need improvement, like A63 Castle Street in Hull, Hedon Road and M62 and M1 improvement. The rail to connect Hull port to the power station needs improving as well.”

Interviewee1, a ManufacturerManager

“A160/A180 near Immingham is poor and needs improving, this has been proposed to the Highways Agency for review to take action.”

An Interviewee from the City Council

“The physical infrastructure in north bank is weak around Saltend. As all traffic from the ports by road will go through central Hull, it is very congested. We have some concerns about building a bio-fuel plant in Hull due to the road access problem”.

Humber Interviewee 2, a Manufacturer Manager

In terms of the main road, the Humber does not have motorway advantages. The Humber estuary is not in the heavy industry and major motorway region, which is why it does not have very good physical infrastructure, an interviewee said:

“The heavy density of industry is in west Yorkshire. They‟ve also got the cross roads of M1, M62 which are major motorway networks for England. There is much more investment in west Yorkshire than in east Yorkshire in the M62 corridor.”

H6, Director of Road Haulage Association

The river with the estuary, as one transport mode of physical infrastructure, is a gateway into the region. The interviewees noted that the Humber region has rich waterways with its canals and tributaries. However, 60% of the respondents claimed that the waterways were under-utilized, as there was a doubt about the demand for the waterway. Since the waterways in the Humber were more expensive than in any other English regions in investment, the government would not invest until they were sure about the actual demand. The RDA manager and some other interviewees raised the concern that waterway investment is an issue of ―chicken and eggs‖. However, they believed that as people were becoming increasingly concerned with the environment, the waterways would be promoted eventually.

Some interviewees noted that Yorkshire Forward did not understand the importance of the waterway, which is the richest in this area, to connect the sea to Leeds, Goole and Sheffield, as Interviewee 16 said:

“They understand the importance of Manchester airport, but they wouldn‟t see the same importance of the Humber ports. The Humber is actually the access where goods are imported, but people don‟t really appreciate the importance of ports.”

As for road infrastructure, most interviewees were aware that Hedon Road and Castle Street have been bottlenecks, but the problems are still ongoing. Although proposals have been repeatedly raised, they have not been improved due to lack of investment.

People in Hull have witnessed no change in road conditions for over 20 years.

Interviewee 3 complained that,

“The only changes we see are the changes of proposals. With time passing by, the project proposal has become more and more expensive. More budgets are needed for the actions.”

As for the link between South Bank and North Bank, the great width of the river has prevented unified economic development on both river banks. A bridge was finally built in 1981 to help stimulate industrial and commercial growth in the area. The bridge has connected the industrial complexes around the Humber ports. However, the toll has been heatedly discussed over years. It is argued that regional communications would become better if the toll were abolished. The local citizens have had a long campaign against the expensive toll, as its abolition would make their lives much easier. For example, patients from the south bank travelling to Hull hospitals would save much money. The possibility of abolition has been investigated and found feasible, as the tolls on both the Forth and Tay bridges (in Scotland) were abolished in 2008.

The infrastructure is important, because the size of the hinterland depends on the quality and availability of transport infrastructure. Accordingly, the logistics demand depends on the size and economy of the hinterland. Many ports have been seeking intermodal links to expand their hinterland. However, the finding is that there are no intermodal links in the Humber and Xiamen.

The finding that physical infrastructure is important for port performance is in line with Tongzon and Heng (2005) and Tongzon (2009). Sanchez et al. (2003) note that adequate infrastructure leads to high level of productivity and efficiency. The second finding on infrastructure shows that although intermodal transportation has been advocated for many years, neither the Humber nor Xiamen has put this idea into practice. The third finding on infrastructure is that waterways are not well-developed, although the trend is to demand more waterways, due to environmental concern.