This volume brings together ten original papers on the population dynamics and development of Western European port cities. In a substantial overview chapter Lawton and Lee examine "Port Development and the Demographic Dynamics of European Urbanisation", setting in context the individual case studies that follow. These studies – of Bremen, Cork, Genoa, Glasgow, Hamburg, Liverpool, Malmö, Nantes, Portsmouth and Trieste – provide an important enhancement of our understanding of the particular socio-economic and demographic characteristics of port cities, and point to the existence of a particular port demographic regime. They emphasize the central importance of the high proportion of unskilled and casual labor, the susceptibility of cyclical employment, the inflated risk of epidemic infection, and other demographic and economic factors specific to port cities.

This book addresses the latest organizational, regulatory, and governance issues of main port systems, linking them to the financial aspects that are currently in use regarding investments in the port industry. A general review of port management and operations is complimented by analysis of country specific systems and a look at how ports could develop in the future. This book aims to examine how different port organizational and regulatory contexts affect port investment practices and related financial tools. The book is of use to researchers and practitioners interested in maritime economics and transportation studies.

The present volume contains the proceedings of an international conference on the economic history of the seaports of Antwerp and Rotterdam (1870-2000). This venue was held at Antwerp on 10-11 May 2001 and was hosted by the Antwerp Port Authority. This international conference aimed at confronting the development of both ports. In the course of the last century and a half, economic growth in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam has been staggering. Maritime economic historians, economists and geographers alike have investigated the development of both ports extensively, but separately. So far, only a limited number of attempts have been made to analyse Rotterdam-Antwerp port history from a comparative perspective. The papers presented at the conference provide a challenging starting point to - certain how and why both ports reacted differently to virtually the same economic and political stimuli. By bringing together both historians, economists and lawyers with different fields of interest, we have attempted to put the history of the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam in a broader international and comparative perspective.