Visiting address:Visiting address:Visiting address:Visiting address:

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Room H12-05

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50

Postal address:Postal address:Postal address:Postal address:

Room H12-07

Dear InTrans readers,

Since the both of us are either finished or finalizing our Mas-ters theses, this will be the last InTrans we provide you and look forward to new editions by a new InTrans editor-team. If you are interested in writing for, or even creating the InTrans for the study year 2007-2008, don’t hesitate to contact the board at bes-tuur@transito.nu.

It has been an interesting year indeed. Both for us as InTrans editors, providing you with (at least we hope) interesting reading material, for Transito and its members. It has been a successful year with an amaz-ing study trip to Dubai, an in-teresting port day and various other nice activities.

Furthermore we’ve stimulated you to vote for Giuliano Min-gardo in the teacher of the year election and with success we might add, he’s made it to the top five so far. But there was more success for the teachers and students of the UPT bachelor and master. Maria Lampri and Georgiou Stilliani won the Havendebat award for best innovative idea.

After providing you with the last colorful special edition InTrans there is little we can do to surpass that edition. We therefore leave that to a new fresh team of editors and use this InTrans to provide you with an overview of the last year.

This InTrans will cover some nice earlier illustrations from Maarten van der Westen whom we would like to thank for his beautiful columns over the year. In this overview vari-ous articles and parts of arti-

Rotterdam’s first Maasvlakte,

construction Maasvlakte 2 starts

in 2008!!

cles which were in our opinion extra special will be used.

We would like to use this op-portunity to thank all the peo-ple who’ve provided us inter-esting articles and invite oth-ers to keep sending their con-tributions.

Jeroen van Haaren

Floris Geldof

THE END

Study Association Transito

September 2007

Volume 6, Issue 4

InTrans

Specials:

• Dubai 2007

• Elections

• Holidays

Inside this issue:

THE END 2

From the Board 2

Maarten vd Westen 2

Looking back 3/4

In the past the most important notion in the field of transportation economics was mobility. Mobility means: that someone can transport himself if he wants to. For example someone who owns a car which he can use at any mo-ment is considered to be mobile. Scholars thought that being mobile was the most impor-tant thing for people and therefore most govern-ments tried to increase the mobility of its citi-zens, for example by building more infrastruc-ture.

Only as increasingly more people got mobile, also the negative side-effects of their mobility got more important. Congestion might be the worst example of these side-effects, because not only does it increase some other externatilities like pollution, also the ability to move is effected. Meaning that people who are mobile can’t get where they want to in the de-sired time.

This is why the concept of accessibil-ity has been devised. In contrast to mobility the emphasis with accessibility is: that people can reach the destination they want to in the de-sired time. This means that although someone might not be mobile, he still might have access to all the things he needs. For example this might occur when someone has all the desired facilities, like work and shops, close by his home.

Since accessibility is the leading

concept in modern day (transportation) eco-

nomics, governments are trying to find ways to

increase the accessibility for important facili-

ties. But not only the governments are focusing

on accessibility also other organisation regard

accessibility as important. One of these organi-

sation is the port authority of Rotterdam.

For a big transportation node like

Rotterdam accessibility is vital especially for its

containers. This is because the competition for

a container is very fierce, since a lot of ports

exist which can handle a container and bring it

to the desired destination. That means that

being accessible is very important otherwise the

customer will choose another, better port to

transport his good by. Accessibility isn’t that

important for other commodities like oil, be-

cause the end destination is usually more re-

lated to the node, as is the case for Rotterdam.

Most emphasis is on the hinteland

transport, since the transportation from sea to

Rotterdam is already good and because most of

the transportation cost arise in the hinterland.

This is the reason why the port of Rotterdam is

increasingly trying to increase the accessibility

of its hinterland. Only the problem is that their

isn’t a good measuring tool to see how accessi-

bile a certain region is.

To solve this problem an accessibility

index is currently being made. This index will

likely split up the hinterland transport in the

three possible modes (rail, inner waterways and

road). Then for each mode the accessibility is

measured for every different region in the hin-

terland. Some of the measuring tools are: the

amount of infrastructure and the average speed

at which a container travels. After the accessi-

bility has been measured for every region a

weight will be given to all the regions, where the

most important one will get the biggest weight.

After that all the indeces for the commodities

are brought to getter and this will result in an

overal accessibility index, with which the port

authorities can measure and compare its acces-

sibility with other competing ports in order to

see where the accessibility of the port needs

improving.

Richard Heezen

The importance of accessibility

Page 2 InTrans

Page 3

Transito is looking for a new Transito is looking for a new Transito is looking for a new Transito is looking for a new

board!board!board!board!

Apply now!!Apply now!!Apply now!!Apply now!!

EEEE----mail to: bestuur@Transito.numail to: bestuur@Transito.numail to: bestuur@Transito.numail to: bestuur@Transito.nu

DUBAI: Selling sandDUBAI: Selling sandDUBAI: Selling sandDUBAI: Selling sand

During our Dubai trip we have visited the

company called ‘Nakheel’, which literally

means ‘The Palms’. Nakheel is the largest

real estate developer of Dubai and is gov-

ernment owned and focuses on waterfront

developments. Nakheel is realizing the

vision of its leader: General Sheikh Mo-

hammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crowne

Prince of Dubai.

We went to Nakheel’s Sale Office to attend

a presentation about the projects of the

company. The office itself is quite pretty

and really offers a palace like atmosphere.

The presentation went about Nakheel’s

largest projects: the Palm islands (Palm

Jumeirah, Palm Deira and Palm Jebel Ali), the Dubai Waterfront and ‘The World’. Especially the Palm islands and The World receive

much attention on a global scale. The Palm Islands are sometimes named 'The Eighth Wonder of the World' and together they will add

1.000 km of beachfront. The development of the Palm islands is made possible through the inputs of Van Oord. This famous Dutch

dredging company is responsible for most of the land reclamation in Dubai. Until now the palm tree-shaped and man-made islands

are very successful. In a few years the prices of the detached homes of the Palm Jumeirah, the first built Palm island, have gone up

from 1.2 billion US $ to prices over 5 billion.

The world is an even more extravagant project: 300 islands together shape the form of the world. The islands are sold individually for

several billion US $ and a buyer can develop its own piece of ‘The world’.

All these exotic developments makes you wonder: how can this be possible? For a down-to-earth Dutch person it is difficult to under-

stand, but it helps to look at the economic dynamics behind it. The business plan of Dubai consists of the realization of one vision, no

red tape, very good marketing, cheap labor and developing real estate. They are basically selling sand and water and I have to say that

they are very good at it.

Jan Eeftinck Schattenkerk

Participant studytrip Dubai 2007

Visiting adress:

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Room H12-05

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50

Postal adress:

Study Association Transito

Room H12-07

P.O. box 1738

3000 DR Rotterdam

Phone: +31 (0) 10 408 2070

Fax: +31 (0) 10 408 9156

Email: bestuur@transito.nu

We’re on the web!

Visit us @ www.transito.nu

Study Association Transito

Study association for regional and transport economics

After a year...

After a year of seminars and courses of the Master of Urban, Port & Transport Econom-ics, Transito organized a study trip to Dubai from April 13th till 23rd. In two years of my active membership, of which one year at the board, Transito visited numerous compa-nies. A few names are Broekman Car Termi-nal, Europe Container Terminals (ECT), ExxonMobil, Schenker Logistics and Stad-shavens Rotterdam. These companies showed that they have to deal with the same problems as we have to deal during seminars and courses. This makes it even more interesting, regardless the fact that most of these companies show impressive infrastructures and superstructures. In Du-bai, however, everything was above expec-tations. First of all, the group has been act-ing as one with a nice ambience from the beginning until the end and even for some of us afterwards. Secondly, every day a dif-ferent company visit was arranged, with even a day to neighbouring country Oman. The visit to Oman was actually for a re-search in order of the Port Authority of So-har, which was a unique experience by the way. We have consulted this Port Authority on their corporate strategy, in order to keep up with Dubai’s booming port. In Dubai we visited different real estate developers, varying from the famous hotels and palm islands to airports and seaports. It is aston-

ishing to see not only at what scale, but even more at what pace this city in the United Arab Emirates is build.

Next to these serious things there was plenty of free time to check out Dubai’s old centre, to relax at the pool and have drinks in the hotel bars or at nice clubs in the city centre. We also went on desert safari and drove quads in the desert with camel riding and a genuine Arabic dinner afterwards. It really didn’t took me that long to get used to

this life style. Therefore, this trip with this large variety of activities was truly above expectations!

All the best on your study this year and check www.transito.nu for more nice activi-ties!!

Floris Geldof