Conceptualizing seaports as institutional and operational clusters on a contextual basis

The starting point for any economic analysis of seaport activity is a clear definition of the concept of a seaport and an understanding of the institutional context (Meersman et al. 2007). In the port sector, there is an increased emphasis among researchers on rethinking the nature, boundary and role of the port (Mangan 2008). Thereby, the aim of this paper is to be added to few researches up today explaining why and how to conceptualize ports. In this paper, a contextual and cluster approach will be taken. A full idea of a seaport as a social-economic organization may be established if six different contexts are explored, with the most important concepts and models applied here in: space, time, social-economic, functional, organizational and institutional. An appropriate model and a new comprehensive definition of a port cluster will be interpreted.