Bunkering competition and competitiveness at the ports of the Gibraltar Strait Manuel Acosta ⇑ , Daniel Coronado, M a Del Mar Cerban Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Avda. Duque de Nájera s/n, 11002 Cádiz, Spain article info Keywords: Bunkering Port competitiveness Port choice Port services abstract This article provides an exploratory analysis from the perspective of the port operators of the factors that determine the competitiveness of fuel supply at the ports of the Gibraltar Strait (Bay of Algeciras, Gibraltar and Ceuta). The methodology is based on interviews and questionnaires focused on public and private institutions involved in the port services. The results reveal that fuel prices and geographical advantage are the two main factors seen by Gibraltar Strait port operators as influencing shipping company choice of bunkering port. In order of importance, other identified factors related to the cost and quality of services, including port tariffs, supply waiting time, service rates, simplicity of crew changing, presence of restrictive environmental regulations and customs strictness. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The competition that ports face within the logistics chain of transport and the key factors determining port competitiveness (for example, an adequate infrastructure, a good location and rea- sonable port costs) have been widely discussed in the literature (Notteboom, 2008; Tongzon, 2002, 2007; Lirn et al., 2003; Yeo and Song, 2005; Tai and Hwang, 2005). Recently, good quality of services provided has been stressed as a relevant factor (Murphy and Hall, 1995; Tongzon, 2007; Wong et al., 2008), even though, traditionally, it has not received much consideration and most ef- forts have been focused on creating competitive cost structures. Following this tradition, this article explores the factors affecting bunkering competitiveness at the Port of Algeciras Bay (PAB) rela- tive to its immediate competitors (the Ports of Gibraltar – PG – and Ceuta – PC –) from the point of view of the port operators. This sup- ply side perspective is attractive because port operators are fre- quently in contact with shipping lines; they know their concerns and have a good knowledge of the bunkering market. 1 Competitiveness provides public and private institutions with information useful for development of strategies to improve their market positioning. We focus on bunkering because fuel supply is particularly relevant in this area; the fact that the Strait of Gibraltar is a passageway for international lines joining Europe, America and the Far East explains the high volume of this product. Fuel sales at the three ports of the Strait of Gibraltar reached 7.14 million tons on 2007, occupying the first position on the Med- iterranean Sea and second in Europe, although still far from the 31.5 million tons from the port of Singapore or the 13.6 million tons from the port of Rotterdam. The methodology used to identify the main factors determining competitiveness relies on interviews and questionnaires targeted on the institutions and firms involved in port activities at the ports of the Strait of Gibraltar. Therefore, this is an analysis from the per- spective of the supply side. The data were completed with a study of secondary statistical sources in order to describe both the evolu- tion of bunkering on the Strait of Gibraltar during the last years and the distribution of this market between the three ports. The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents a review of empir- ical causes; Section 3 describes the global bunkering market and the relative position and characteristics of the Strait’s ports; Sec- tion 4 presents an analysis of the main determinants of competi- tiveness of the three ports of the Strait: Algeciras Bay, Gibraltar and Ceuta; Section 5 summarizes the main conclusions and policy implications. 2. Literature review In this review we summarize some key empirical studies of port competitiveness. As stated in the introduction, recent studies show that there are a number of common determinants of port compet- itiveness, although the order changes depending on the port and type of traffic analysed. Tongzon (2002, 2007), Lirn et al. (2003, 2004), Yeo and Song (2005), Tai and Hwang (2005) and Tongzon and Heng (2005) stress the importance of port infrastructure, geographic location and port costs as the main decisive factors. 0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2010.11.008 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 956015471; fax: +34 956015388. E-mail addresses: manuel.acosta@uca.es (M. Acosta), daniel.coronado@uca.es (D. Coronado), mariadelmar.cerban@uca.es (M a Del Mar Cerban). 1 Contrasting the results from the supply side with data from the demand side would have enriched the conclusions, as the Editor and one of the referees pointed out. That was the starting point of the research; however, the data collection process was unsuccessful because only one of 69 questionnaires sent to shipping lines operating at the ports of the Strait of Gibraltar was completed. Journal of Transport Geography 19 (2011) 911–916 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Transport Geography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo