A Geographical Perspective of the Transhipment Function

When point-to-point markets cannot support direct service in the container trade, shipping lines need to make decisions about transhipment locations. Where to tranship is, at the start, a geographical question. This paper reviews a few of the geographer's descriptive, analytical and conceptual tools, which can be usefully applied to the transhipment phenomenon. The map, to begin with, draws out certain obvious locational relationships. Network analysis, using graph theoretical models, can suggest efficient ways of building and serving a transport network. The geographer's concepts of site, situation, and strategic location provide a general framework for comparative analysis of transhipment locations. The case of Freeport, a developing transhipment centre in the Bahamas, will be used to illustrate the application of these geographical tools.International Journal of Maritime Economics (2000) 2, 163–176; doi:10.1057/ijme.2000.15