ARTICLE IN PRESS K.O'Connor/Journal of Transport Geography xxx (2009)xxx-xxx Table 2 Rank of global city logistics regions in two categories of port and airport infrastructure. Multiple sea and airports(with adjusted MasterCard global city rank) Single sea and airport(with adjusted Mastercard global city rank) Global city logistics regions 1 London,SE UK 11 Sydney 4 Rome Tokyo-Yokohama 3 Stockholm Mumbai Hong Kong-Shenzen 14 Amsterdam-Rotterdam 53 Athens-Piraeus 2 Osaka-Kobe Philadelphia Sao Paulo-Santos Los Angeles-Long Beach 8 Boston Beijing-Tianjin Antwerp-Brussels 28 Dublin 63 Buenos Aires Washington DC-Baltimore-Virginia 35 Vancouver 65 St.Petersburg 42 Shanghai-Ningbo 36 Houston 66 Rio de Janiero Dubai-Gulf Barcelona 8 Cairo 40 Melbourne 7 Manila 4 Tel Aviv-Haifa 2 jakarta 4 Lisbon 4 Beirut 46 Santiago sufficient to edge up their share of global traffic slightly over the 180.000 decade. 160.000 Exploring this situation further,the data displayed in Fig.5 was 140.000 re-configured for the four categories of logistics regions used ear- 120.000 lier.This provides the opportunity to establish any change in the 100.000 role played by those places with major sea and airport 80.000 infrastructure 60.000 The data in Fig.5 confirm that the multiple sea and airport city 40.000 regions have become steadily more important over the decade dis- played here.This suggests infrastructure capacity,and its likely 20.000 accompanying hub role,is a critical factor in shaping the location 0.000 of physical logistics activity.As only a few of the places in this cat- 996 1997 199819992000200120022003200420052006 egory are high ranked global cities it would appear the influence of Sea FreightAir Freight Global Logistics Iindex global city functions may be weakening and the sheer capacity to manage logistics activity may be emerging as a key factor in the Fig.4.Global city logistics regions 1996-2006. underlying geography of logistics at a global scale. As noted earlier however,some of that capacity may be related to the skill and breadth of producer service functions in those locations. 60.000 50.000 4.Conclusions 40.000 This research set out first to identify the actual share of logistics activity in global city regions that have both sea and airports.The 30.000 results show that just 44 places,defined as global city logistics re- gions,accounted for almost a half of air freight and two thirds of 20.000 sea freight in 2006,a share that has been steady over the past dec- ade.That importance is underscored by the fact that this research 10.000 did not include some 29 global cities that only had airports:they together handled an additional 15%of global air freight in 2006. That shows the spatial unit surrounding the global city is critical 0.000 19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006 to logistics flows.This has one very important consequence:logis- tics operations will be competing for land use and mobility in what Multiple Seaports and Airports Multiple Seaports Single Airport are some of the most crowded and congested urban regions on the Multiple Airports Single Seaport Single Sea and Airport globe,which in some cases are already,or could become "choke- points"in the "...conduits of commerce"(Leinbach and Capineri Fig.5.Global city logistics regions by type of infrastructure 1996-2006. 2007,p.270) Second,the research explored the role of regions with multiple airports and seaports.It found they did exert a disproportionate in the index value suggests these places have been attracting an in- influence in terms of share of activity,and that share had been crease in the share of global sea and air traffic,and the bars on the rising over time.In effect multiple transport infrastructure now graph confirm that the gains might be stronger in sea traffic that in plays a powerful role in shaping urban and regional transport air freight.That outcome is consistent with the fact that there are a outcomes and will need to be at the heart of the regional plan- number of global city regions with important air freight functions ning initiatives.Addressing the issues surrounding that result will that lie outside the group of cities that are represented in Fig.4.At require new spatial thinking in port and airport development the same time,the data confirm that global city regions have been, This is reinforced by the fact that multiple sea and airport infra- and continue to be,important as sea ports,and that importance is structure in a region is usually dispersed across a wide area.In Please cite this article in press as:O'Connor.K.Global city regions and the location of logistics activity.J.Transp.Geogr.(2009).doi:10.1016/ j.jtrangeo.2009.06.015in the index value suggests these places have been attracting an in￾crease in the share of global sea and air traffic, and the bars on the graph confirm that the gains might be stronger in sea traffic that in air freight. That outcome is consistent with the fact that there are a number of global city regions with important air freight functions that lie outside the group of cities that are represented in Fig. 4. At the same time, the data confirm that global city regions have been, and continue to be, important as sea ports, and that importance is sufficient to edge up their share of global traffic slightly over the decade. Exploring this situation further, the data displayed in Fig. 5 was re-configured for the four categories of logistics regions used ear￾lier. This provides the opportunity to establish any change in the role played by those places with major sea and airport infrastructure. The data in Fig. 5 confirm that the multiple sea and airport city regions have become steadily more important over the decade dis￾played here. This suggests infrastructure capacity, and its likely accompanying hub role, is a critical factor in shaping the location of physical logistics activity. As only a few of the places in this cat￾egory are high ranked global cities it would appear the influence of global city functions may be weakening and the sheer capacity to manage logistics activity may be emerging as a key factor in the underlying geography of logistics at a global scale. As noted earlier however, some of that capacity may be related to the skill and breadth of producer service functions in those locations. 4. Conclusions This research set out first to identify the actual share of logistics activity in global city regions that have both sea and airports. The results show that just 44 places, defined as global city logistics re￾gions, accounted for almost a half of air freight and two thirds of sea freight in 2006, a share that has been steady over the past dec￾ade. That importance is underscored by the fact that this research did not include some 29 global cities that only had airports: they together handled an additional 15% of global air freight in 2006. That shows the spatial unit surrounding the global city is critical to logistics flows. This has one very important consequence; logis￾tics operations will be competing for land use and mobility in what are some of the most crowded and congested urban regions on the globe, which in some cases are already, or could become ‘‘choke￾points” in the ‘‘...conduits of commerce” (Leinbach and Capineri, 2007, p. 270). Second, the research explored the role of regions with multiple airports and seaports. It found they did exert a disproportionate influence in terms of share of activity, and that share had been rising over time. In effect multiple transport infrastructure now plays a powerful role in shaping urban and regional transport outcomes and will need to be at the heart of the regional plan￾ning initiatives. Addressing the issues surrounding that result will require new spatial thinking in port and airport development. This is reinforced by the fact that multiple sea and airport infra￾structure in a region is usually dispersed across a wide area. In Table 2 Rank of global city logistics regions in two categories of port and airport infrastructure. Multiple sea and airports (with adjusted MasterCard global city rank) Single sea and airport (with adjusted Mastercard global city rank) Global city logistics regions 1 London, SE UK 11 Sydney 47 Rome 4 Tokyo–Yokohama 13 Stockholm 48 Mumbai 10 Hong Kong–Shenzen 14 Amsterdam–Rotterdam 53 Athens-Piraeus 19 Osaka–Kobe 17 Philadelphia 58 Sao Paulo–Santos 21 Los Angeles–Long Beach 18 Boston 59 Beijing–Tianjin 27 Antwerp–Brussels 28 Dublin 63 Buenos Aires 34 Washington DC–Baltimore–Virginia 35 Vancouver 65 St. Petersburg 42 Shanghai–Ningbo 36 Houston 66 Rio de Janiero 55 Dubai-Gulf 37 Barcelona 68 Cairo 40 Melbourne 70 Manila 43 Tel Aviv–Haifa 72 Jakarta 44 Lisbon 74 Beirut 46 Santiago 0.000 20.000 40.000 60.000 80.000 100.000 120.000 140.000 160.000 180.000 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Sea Freight Air Freight Global Logistics Index Fig. 4. Global city logistics regions 1996–2006. 0.000 10.000 20.000 30.000 40.000 50.000 60.000 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Global Logistics Index Multiple Seaports and Airports Multiple Seaports Single Airport Multiple Airports Single Seaport Single Sea and Airport Fig. 5. Global city logistics regions by type of infrastructure 1996–2006. 6 K. O’Connor / Journal of Transport Geography xxx (2009) xxx–xxx ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article in press as: O’Connor, K. Global city regions and the location of logistics activity. J. Transp. Geogr. (2009), doi:10.1016/ j.jtrangeo.2009.06.015