Hinterland Demarcation Between Two West African Ports

What is it about?

Seaports play an important role in the economic integration of any port state even beyond the vital role they play in international trade and maritime transport by offering harbors for the safe berthing of ships that call on them. But for a port to be viable, it needs to know its clients and inter alia; their geographical locations in order to serve them well. The port must therefore, segment its hinterlands so that it will be able to do a thorough analysis of the needs of such hinterlands in order to improve port efficiency and to avoid cargo shifting to other neighboring ports. In doing this segmentation it is imperative to use quantitative analysis with a scientific theory model and method so that the reasonable hinterland of a particular port can be determined. Hinterland segmentation is defined in a scientific and rational manner after which port hinterland is described in a concise way, differentiating the different types of port hinterlands after which factors, which may determine the classification of port hinterlands, are also discussed. The gravitational model is thereafter, used to do an analysis of the hinterlands of the ports of Abidjan and Tema, both situated in the West African sub-region, then an empirical analysis is done based on the actual situation of the two ports under study

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Why is it important?

This paper is important to the effect that, it explains the concept of port hinterlands better especially for the West African region. This will help port managers segment their hinterlands better.

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