As mentioned earlier, it is not possible to introduce new fees from a congestion or
emission point of view. First, there is a lack of legal acceptance to call it a fee. It is
not possible to make a demand of a private operator such as the container terminal
operator, to charge a fee imposed by the municipality. The municipality cannot
impose such a fee as it is most likely a tax. The major problem facing a regulator
when it comes to combatting emissions and congestions, is the geographical position
of the port. Alderton expresses this in the following terms:
• Ports tend to be large civil engineering undertakings with huge sunk cost. They
also tend to last much longer than the vehicles that use them. If a ship owner
makes a mistake in the type or size of ship he buys he can usually recoup his
losses by selling his mistake. A port manager will usually find it more difficult
and costly to dispose his mistakes.
• A ship is an entity, whereas a port is simply a collection of activities. This makes
it more difficult to talk about ports in general. A small ship has many technical
and operational feature in common with a large ship but it is sometimes difficult
to see what a small fishing port in a developing country has in common with, let’s
say, Rotterdam.
56
Of the four ports in the project only two of them have a reasonable possibility to
develop in a way that emissions and congestion can be combated or controlled; in
this case, the Cities of Trelleborg and Karlskrona. In both these cities, there is a
possibility of further development of the roads leading to the port in such a way that
congestion could be avoided. In the case of both Gothenburg and Stockholm, the
port is set so that the roads more or less lead through the city centres.
8 Final Words
This contribution to Maritime Law in Motion has perhaps not been so much on
Maritime Law itself, but has pointed out the increasing importance of ports and port
administrations when environmental questions are to be addressed from the maritime
community. It is no longer possible to view regulatory and administrative maritime
law simply from the looking glass of the terminal berth and out to the high seas. The
logistical connections between vessels, ports, land transport and hinterland ports
become more of an interconnected system. Legal research has therefore to adapt
itself to developments taking place further inland from the port. Legal researchers
must also prepare themselves to participate in projects of a multi-disciplinary nature.
As the present author has indicated, multidisciplinary work puts high demands on
the coordinator of the research project but at the same time it brings new dimensions
to the research of the participants.
56 Alderton (2008), p. 4.
454
L.-G. Malmberg
emission point of view. First, there is a lack of legal acceptance to call it a fee. It is
not possible to make a demand of a private operator such as the container terminal
operator, to charge a fee imposed by the municipality. The municipality cannot
impose such a fee as it is most likely a tax. The major problem facing a regulator
when it comes to combatting emissions and congestions, is the geographical position
of the port. Alderton expresses this in the following terms:
• Ports tend to be large civil engineering undertakings with huge sunk cost. They
also tend to last much longer than the vehicles that use them. If a ship owner
makes a mistake in the type or size of ship he buys he can usually recoup his
losses by selling his mistake. A port manager will usually find it more difficult
and costly to dispose his mistakes.
• A ship is an entity, whereas a port is simply a collection of activities. This makes
it more difficult to talk about ports in general. A small ship has many technical
and operational feature in common with a large ship but it is sometimes difficult
to see what a small fishing port in a developing country has in common with, let’s
say, Rotterdam.
56
Of the four ports in the project only two of them have a reasonable possibility to
develop in a way that emissions and congestion can be combated or controlled; in
this case, the Cities of Trelleborg and Karlskrona. In both these cities, there is a
possibility of further development of the roads leading to the port in such a way that
congestion could be avoided. In the case of both Gothenburg and Stockholm, the
port is set so that the roads more or less lead through the city centres.
8 Final Words
This contribution to Maritime Law in Motion has perhaps not been so much on
Maritime Law itself, but has pointed out the increasing importance of ports and port
administrations when environmental questions are to be addressed from the maritime
community. It is no longer possible to view regulatory and administrative maritime
law simply from the looking glass of the terminal berth and out to the high seas. The
logistical connections between vessels, ports, land transport and hinterland ports
become more of an interconnected system. Legal research has therefore to adapt
itself to developments taking place further inland from the port. Legal researchers
must also prepare themselves to participate in projects of a multi-disciplinary nature.
As the present author has indicated, multidisciplinary work puts high demands on
the coordinator of the research project but at the same time it brings new dimensions
to the research of the participants.
56 Alderton (2008), p. 4.
454
L.-G. Malmberg