【正文】 MARIT. POL. MGMT., OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2020VOL. 30, , 305–320The changing role of ports in supplychainmanagement: an empirical analysisVALENTINA CARBONEINRETS—The French National Institute for Transport andSafety Research, 2, av. Du Ge180。ne180。ral Malleret Joinville, F94114,Arcueil Cedex, Franceand MARCELLA DE MARTINOCNRIRAT, National Research Council, Institute for Service IndustryResearch, Via 115, 80122, Naples, ItalyAs integrated supplychain management (SCM) is now at the epicentre ofbusiness transformation, ?rms are breaking down boundaries between internalfunctions, as well as between the enterprise itself and key partners in the valuechain (. customers, distributors, suppliers and carriers). One of the main goalsof such new management approach is to get everyone in the supply chain intoa mon platform of logistics transactions and information systems.Against such background, the aim of this work is to analyse how and if portoperators can face the challenge of higher integration, on the assumption thatthehighertheintegrationbetweentheactorsthehigherthepetitivenessofthewhole supply chain.Accordingly, we adopted an SCM approach in the analysis of the port ofLe Havre in Renault’s supply chain. More speci?cally, we referred to theLambert tridimensional model based on supply chain’s structure (actors), keybusiness processes and links between actors. The ?eld work—which mainlyconsisted of semistructured interviews to Renault, logistics and port operators,and, ?nally, to the Le Havre Port Authority—was crucial to gather the neededinformation.1. IntroductionPorts have been natural sites for transhipment in order to transfer goods from onemode of transport to another. They have historically provided the link betweenmaritime and inland transport, and the interface between the sea and rivers androads and railways.At present, ports play an important role in the management andcoordination ofmaterials and information ?ows, as the transport is an integral part of the entiresupply chain. The objectives thus bee to create synergies, as well as converginginterests, between the players of port munity in order to guarantee reliability,continuous service and a good productivity level. It is a fact that in the area ofmaritime transport, reliability and productivity are collective concepts stemmingfrom a multiplicity of contributors.Maritime Policy amp。 Management ISSN 0308–8839 print/ISSN 1464–5254 online 2020 Taylor amp。 Francis LtdDOI: Downloaded by [Sultan Qaboos University] at 18:39 22 May 2020 Inordertodevelopthemselvesaslogisticsplatforms,portshavetosimultaneouslywork in several directions, by also taking into account the requirements of thesenders and receivers of goods as they bee their business partners in additionto the traditional ones such as the shipping panies, terminal operators, forwarding panies, etc. The requirements for seaport services are growing accordingly:physical accessibility from land and systematic organization of the information ?oware decisive factors for the industry with regard to the choice of a seaport [1].Subsequently, the petitive position of a port is not only determined by itsinternal strengths (e?cient cargo handling and hinterland connections) but it is alsoa?ected by its links in a given supply chain. As a consequence, the risk for ports oflosing important customers can derive not only from de?ciencies in port infrastructures, terminal operations and inland connections, but also from the customer’sservice work reorganization and its entry into new partnerships with logisticsservices providers, which may be using a di?erent hub. In other words, portpetitiveness is being increasingly dependent on external coordination andcontrol of the whole supply chain.Wecan,therefore,the port is considered as a cluster of organizations in which di?erent logistics andtransportoperators areinvolvedinbringingvalueto the?nalconsumers. Thisvaluees into play when a port operator or, in general, a logistics supplier goesbeyond the mere transport of merchandise, which could be de?ned as a basicservice, and provides a package of logistics services di?erentiated on the basis ofcustomer’ requirements. A value adding activity is, therefore, an activity along thechainthataddsvaluetotheproductorserviceandwhichthe?nalcustomeriswillingto pay for.In a wide sense, ports are plex entities supporting the procurement of rawmaterials, themanufacturingandthe arepotential members of di?erent supply chains. Their contribution to the satisfaction ofspeci?c customer’s requirements (and therefore their potential role in a given supplychain) will depend on:(1) Theavailability ofe?cientinfrastructuresandinlandconnections,aspartofa global transport system.(2) The ability of logistics and transport operators to contribute to the valuecreation and to acplish also the qualitative attributes of demand (reliability, punctuality, frequency, availability of information, and security).This paper deals with (2) . the providers’ behaviour for the satisfaction ofcustomer needs, leaving aside the role of the port authority (1) in shaping portfeatures through investment decisions and land management and subsequently inmaking it attractive for speci?c supply chains.Inparticulartheaimofthisworkistoanalysehowportoperatorsareinvolvedinagiven supplychain. Theadoptedmethodology isbasedonasupplychainmanagement (SCM) approach.We describe the integration process undertaken by di?erent port operators inrelation to the focal ?rm of the automotive chain, taking into consideration(among other variables) the kind of services o?ered by port operators, namelytheir belonging to the cargo handling system, the more extended transport systemor the logistics system.306 V. Carbone and M. De MartinoDownloaded by [Sultan Qaboos University] at 18:39 22 May 2020 The kind of supplied services determines in which measure a port creates value inasup