There is an ongoing debate on the concentration of container throughput in the European container port system. A … ports argue that a shift in port traffic from the north to the south would be beneficial for the environment and the economy … and compare several hinterland accessibility indices to explain the relative size of port regions. Besides standard …

, ports and port regions increasingly compete to serve distant hinterlands. In a European context, many researchers refer to … the agglomeration of economic activity in the Rhine-Ruhr area and the ‘blue banana' to explain the concentration of port … activity in the Hamburg-Le Havre port range. Besides this, the incorporation of new member states in the European market has …