Page 9 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 9
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Complex Gateways:
The North Adriatic Port System
in Historical Perspective
Giulio Mellinato
University of Milano Bicocca, Department of Economics, Management
and Statistics
Every seaport is a very peculiar kind of organization, each in its own way.
Seaport management staff must simultaneously solve complicated tech-
nical difficulties, coordinate various (and sometimes conflicting) inter-
ests, and succeed in the harmonization of a wide set of competencies
within a varied workforce. At the same time, they must keep the entire
system economically competitive, technologically up-to-date, and relia-
ble for all possible customers.
Moreover, seaports are usually distinctive key elements inside the
socioeconomic fabric of the city surrounding them, bringing to mind a
symbiotic relation between the two, each receiving and at the same time
giving something vital to the other.
Probably because of this intrinsic complexity, the history of seaports
has experienced a strange destiny: on the one hand, it is considered to
be of key importance for understanding the historical patterns of inter-
national trade; on the other hand, very few researchers seem to choose
the ‘internal’ history of the port activities as their primary field of study.
Clearly, seaport history is a fringe specialization, with very few acolytes.
Most of the time, even the mainstream economic theories neglect
what actually takes place inside the port areas: what matters is to as-
sess what enters and what leaves the port, in quantity and quality. If an-
ything, scholars measure the ports’ competitiveness in an aggregate way,
considering port systems as relatively homogeneous, a very standard-
ized mechanism, whose performances can easily be compared from one
country to another, from one sea to another. The port, in itself, remains
Mellinato, Giulio, Aleksander Panjek, eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port
Cities: The Northern Adriatic in a Comparative Perspective.
Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem. https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-191-9.9-31
9
Complex Gateways:
The North Adriatic Port System
in Historical Perspective
Giulio Mellinato
University of Milano Bicocca, Department of Economics, Management
and Statistics
Every seaport is a very peculiar kind of organization, each in its own way.
Seaport management staff must simultaneously solve complicated tech-
nical difficulties, coordinate various (and sometimes conflicting) inter-
ests, and succeed in the harmonization of a wide set of competencies
within a varied workforce. At the same time, they must keep the entire
system economically competitive, technologically up-to-date, and relia-
ble for all possible customers.
Moreover, seaports are usually distinctive key elements inside the
socioeconomic fabric of the city surrounding them, bringing to mind a
symbiotic relation between the two, each receiving and at the same time
giving something vital to the other.
Probably because of this intrinsic complexity, the history of seaports
has experienced a strange destiny: on the one hand, it is considered to
be of key importance for understanding the historical patterns of inter-
national trade; on the other hand, very few researchers seem to choose
the ‘internal’ history of the port activities as their primary field of study.
Clearly, seaport history is a fringe specialization, with very few acolytes.
Most of the time, even the mainstream economic theories neglect
what actually takes place inside the port areas: what matters is to as-
sess what enters and what leaves the port, in quantity and quality. If an-
ything, scholars measure the ports’ competitiveness in an aggregate way,
considering port systems as relatively homogeneous, a very standard-
ized mechanism, whose performances can easily be compared from one
country to another, from one sea to another. The port, in itself, remains
Mellinato, Giulio, Aleksander Panjek, eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port
Cities: The Northern Adriatic in a Comparative Perspective.
Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem. https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-191-9.9-31
9
