A Study on the development direction of Kobe port

Abstract

In January 1995, port of Kobe was severely damaged by the Hanshin-Awaji disaster. After the earthquake, all of port facilities have been recovered by the end of March 1997. Since then, various measures have been applied to achieve the most effective/efficient use of port facilities, such as reduction of handing costs, simplification of formalities and to making the Kobe port easier to use. However, container cargo activities in Kobe port have not been recovered as that before the disaster. In the present paper, "the development process of Kobe port" , "the model of container cargo activities through Kobe port" and "the overseas deployment of Japanese companies" are studied. The authors show, after numerical simulations, that the cargo activities in Kobe port have been closely related with the industry and economy activity in hinterland of Kobe port And then, the authors suggest that "the overseas deployment of Japanese companies" is one of the opportunities for revitalization of Kobe port.