As the fourth reporting period of the DAPhNE project has come to an end, project partners finalised one of the most important outputs in the Port Development work package, the Port Investment Guidelines & New Markets Studies.

The aim of this article is to give an overview about New Markets Studies.

The New Markets Studies document is designed to help Danube ports in planning their future development stages taking into account other sectors – renewables in particular – which their economic performance is strongly linked to: industrial ecology, LNG as cargo, the Danube container market and the Physical Internet.

To reach conclusions grounded in reality, a survey was organized among predetermined target groups (port owners, port managers, port authorities, port operator companies, shipping companies, etc.), inviting them to share their knowledge and experience. Based on the results of the interviews, the document sheds light on:

• the environmental framework that triggers the deployment and further extension of the four markets;
• the current supply/demand status (barriers and competitive powers);
• the costs and available infrastructure elements in the region;
• the success factors that can help with the expansion of the four markets;
• the profile of the entities that are most likely to start using these services; and
• the changing training needs of the constantly updating technologies and new innovations.

The New Markets Studies document (as well as other project outputs) can be found in the Library section.