Financialization within the Port Economy

This thesis discusses the concept of financialization and its connection to the port economy. The concept of financialization has been described by academics as a trend that finds its origins in the 1970s and that according to Lawrence Summer (former Dean of Harvard University and Secretary of Finance) is the wheel of fortune in contemporary capitalism. Although academics describe financialization in different manners they agree on the most common explanation, which is the increasing role of financial institutions and financial actors in non-financial industries. Financialization has made it ways into the port economy. This thesis presents the case of financialization in the Port of Rotterdam. For this thesis, the ownership of companies in the port economy of Rotterdam will indicate cases of financialization. Online databases have provided information that within the Port of Rotterdam, 140 companies are owned by non-industrial related companies, such as financial holdings, insurance companies, family funds, and governments. Of these 140 companies, 74 of them have owners from foreign countries. Financialization has crossed borders and industries and is also present in the Port of Rotterdam. Although financialization has created possibilities for acquiring large sums of capital, in the long run, port actors may just become another portfolio asset that can be dropped if not deemed profitable anymore.