Recent decades have seen momentous changes in the economic geography of the world. Political transitions and economic liberalization have brought formerly closed countries into the world economy. At the same time, technological change has continued to reduce the cost of interactions within and between countries. Accompanying technological innovation has been business innovation. 

The divergence in economic growth prospects between emerging and developed economies is expected to be mirrored in future trade patterns. The changing picture of global trade is already providing opportunities and challenges for those operating in the transport & logistics (T&L) industry as they look to re-shape their operations and take advantage of the new transport hubs and corridors. Trade routes between emerging economies and developed economies and between emerging economies and other emerging economies are expected to become more significant over the next twenty years. 

Seventy-three percent of T&L CEOs say their companies are changing their strategies to respond to the growth potential in emerging markets. When entering new markets, long-term planning and careful execution are essential. Companies should not only think about securing deals and developing operations but also about testing opportunities and safeguarding their assets, whether physical, human or intellectual. Economic and political stability, varying business regulations, possible inflation, and competition among countries are also factors to consider when assessing market entry. 

Global goods movement is a critical element in the global freight transportation system that includes ocean and coastal routes, inland waterways, railways, roads, and air freight. In some cases, the freight transportation network connects locations by multiple modal routes, functioning as modal substitutes. A primary example is containerized short-sea shipping, where the shipper or logistics provider has some degree of choice how to move freight between locations. However, international maritime transportation is more commonly a complement to other modes of transportation. This is particularly true for intercontinental containerized cargoes and for liquid and dry bulk cargoes, such as oil and grain. Here, international shipping connects roads, railways, and inland waterways through ocean and coastal routes. 

The aim of this workshop is to Understand how agglomerations, in all their perspectives of scale, scope and complexity are affected by the integration in the supply chains, in the specific context of particular ports in African and Middle East. The workshop also Focuses on revealing the effects that integration in international supply chains has had on the economies of agglomeration occurred in container terminal operations, one of the most dynamic segments of port activity, that greatly impacts the whole of port economic agglomeration. The discussion will not stop only to the container operations segment, but will also employ specific empirical evidence, in order to underline the discrepancies between a segment of the port market that is integrated in supply chains and the rest.