Land utilization in the container terminal: a global perpective

Conventionl wisdom in terms of land utilization has been derived from a micro view-strategies concerning land utilization have been formulated based on the need of terminal operators. The major factors considered are the cost, the manoeuverability, the stacking ability of the yard operating systems etc. Regretfully, they have failed to deal with issues concerning land utilization in a broader aspect. Factors considered from a micro view point cannont explain why there are huge differences in the storage capacity of land, the utilization rate of this storage capacity and varying land productivity achieved among container terminals throughout the world. Few researchers have examined he issues from a macro view point, revealing a lack of far-sightedness. Therefore, they cannot explain the global differences in land utilization among terminal operators. The aim of this paper is to examine this issue from a macro view point and provide principles for terminal development.