Effects of BRI strategy on Mediterranean shipping transport

In 2013 Chinese government unveiled one of the biggest transport plan schemes worldwide: the One Belt One Road (OBOR) strategy, now called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This scheme includes the development of a group of specific transport and logistics corridors that encompass three different continents (i.e. Asia, Africa, and Europe) with both land and maritime corridors. Both these planned interventions are expected to greatly impact on the maritime transport between Far East and Northern Europe through new port investments (e.g. Piraeus, the proposed Venice container offshore terminal) and providing rail alternatives (e.g. Beijing-Hamburg rail service) that could impact on the geography of international trades. These modifications of current transport patterns might drastically change the overall organisation of the shipping services in the Mediterranean, increasing competition of transport alternatives (e.g. rail vs road; rail vs sea) and promoting the nodes included in the BRI. Thus, the current study aims at discussing effects of BRI on current maritime patterns with a specific focus on the effects into port competition within the Mediterranean area.