Why are we still queuing? Exploring landside congestion factors in Australian bulk cargo port terminals

This empirical research improves the understanding of landside congestion factors in bulk cargo port terminals. It presents a model for identifying factors and interactions contributing to congestion severity.

Ports play critical roles at the intersection of multiple independent supply chains and have an enormous potential to improve supply chains' competitiveness. However, this point of intersection for supply chains also creates significant coordination challenges best exemplified by the presence of landside congestion. Although landside congestion is an issue that plagues many ports and terminals, research on congestion remains limited, especially in bulk cargo port terminals. This lack of research may also partially explain the dominance of market-based mechanisms for managing congestion. Importantly, market-based approaches often fail or shift congestion to other parts of the supply chain because they are not aligned with the causal factors and their interactions that contribute to congestion.

This paper analyses three case studies. Each case centres on an Australian bulk cargo port terminal for forest products and its associated landside supply chain. The research findings identify social, technical and behavioral factors and their different types of interactions at the terminal and related supply chains and reveal how these factors contribute to the appearance and severity of landside congestion. Based on these findings, the paper presents a new definition of landside congestion and a model for identifying and understanding interactions among congestion factors. Improved knowledge of landside congestion can refine congestion management through contextually tailored solutions depending on the factors’ presence and interactions.