Analysing container flows in the Caribbean

The Caribbean region is a cross road of international and regional container traffic. Most of the islands in the region have also adopted ambitious strategies to become prime locations for container transhipment. This paper introduces a tool that can be used to visualise and analyse the Caribbean container flows. The tool is constructed on the basis of a multi-layered graph structure and is highly parameterised to allow for flexible selection of flows and ports. The tool supports the assessment of the potential for the development of a logistics and transport hub through the calculation of relevant indicators using available information on container flows in the region. Much of the empirical work centres on the estimation of the origin-destination matrix of container flows in the region. The paper presents a case study for the island of Curacao.