Port Regionalization and Dock Labour regimes in the European Seaport System: comparative analysis in container terminals

Technological revolutions, scale increases in ship types and terminals, increased containerisation, changes in inland transport requirements, the rise of terminal networks and the functional integration of terminals in supply chain management practices and broader logistics poles, have led to renewed market requirements on dock labour. According to the conceptual framework of Notteboom (2011), market players demand a maximization of the performance of dockworkers and a minimization of the indirect costs of port labour. The response to changing market requirements takes place within a wider setting of legal and social conditions. However, the organization of port labour and the associated dock labour systems vary considerably throughout Europe. The key issues that often appear in labour reform processes relate to the definition of dock work, the legal status of the dockworker, the functioning of labour pools, practical arrangements at the work floor and the categorization and qualification of dockworkers. European seaports, territorially embedded in a historically path dependent and contingent institutional framework (Jacobs & Hall 2007), started to witness a significant transition that speeded in late 1990s. While these processes reshaped port scenarios, the overall port labour structure has experienced a metamorphosis. Moreover, most ports have witnessed a decrease or a stagnation of the number of dockworkers. The aim of my research is to analyse such factors, as well as the social processes triggered, by adding a more detailed perspective and applying it to the specific case study of port labour in terminal containers of Genoa (Italy) and Antwerp (Belgium). The research I am trying to develop wheel around the following questions: To what extent market forces are changing and shaping dock labour regimes in Europe? Is port labour system in the European ports being adapting to the changing market environment or not? Why the organisational models of dock labour differ among the ports of Genova and Antwerp? Port industry - and the regional environment in which ports operate (Ducruet, 2009) -, is an appropriate empirical ground in which to test how the new paradigms of global circulation and production influence labour conditions. The outcome of such studies might provide some useful tools for the policies about the European port labour regulation, both at national and supranational level.