Spatial Evolution of the European Container Ports’ System in Perspective of the Location Theory

Department of Urban Design and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Gdańsk University of Technology, Narutowicza Street 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland

^* Corresponding author: karkrosn@pg.edu.pl

Abstract

The maritime container terminal is no longer a spatially coherent object. Functionally it ends, where their most external components are located. The process of location splitting of container terminals (ger. Standortspaltung) can be treated as next stage of their discrete growth. The new container facilities are being built to improve the containers’ flow, passing from port terminals to cities situated in their hinterland and vice versa. The external components of container terminals have a very diverse program, are functionally complex, and due to advanced technologies of information and logistics they are interconnected into one system. The structure of the functional bindings of a maritime container terminal could be compared to the dendritic shape of a neuron, the kernel of which is a terminal, and the arms are transportation corridors ended with distant land intermodal terminals. The physical feature of this system is the logistics landscape with vast areas and large cubature. The aim of the paper is to present the graphical model explaining the changes in distribution and hierarchy of container terminals’ external elements in relation to the network of cities and transportation.