MSc IN MARITIME ECONOMICS & LOGISTICS (MEL)
Introduction
It is often said that one in three trucks running on European motorways is Dutch. Also,
with a cargo turnover of almost 400 million tons a year, Rotterdam is the world's
third biggest port -after Singapore and Shanghai- and, by far, the undisputed
European champion, also in container transport and terminal business. By general recognition, Netherlands, the gateway to Europe, is at the
forefront of innovation in transport and logistics. The country's shipping policy
offers companies one of the most attractive business environments in Europe,
successfully challenging all traditional shipping centres.
Erasmus, Rotterdam's own university, is at the very centre of all this,
distilling the country's knowledge infrastructure in its MSc Course in
Maritime Economics and Logistics (MEL); a post-graduate/post-experience
international programme aimed at transforming
promising young professionals into tomorrow's leaders in business and government.
Our
objective is to fast-tracking promising young professionals
into tomorrow's leaders in business and government. The program prepares experts
with modern economic and management tools for efficient decision-making,
providing them at the same time with methods; concepts; and theories to enable
them understand and analyze, in a holistic and multidisciplinary way, the
complexities of global maritime supply chains. In this way, MEL graduates are
expected to be able to act and decide, with managerial style and determination,
under complex and uncertain conditions, in a global economic and social
environment.
The emphasis of our courses is not on
‘informational’ or ‘ephemeral’ content, but rather on fundamental industrial,
economic, and management concepts and methods, of lasting effect, that can be
used to explain business practices on the one hand, and policy making processes
on the other. To this end, a combination of theory and practice is required. The
more conceptual matters are dealt with by University staff while practical
aspects are discussed by our partners, such as Maersk Line; APM Terminals; Port
of Rotterdam; Europe Container Terminals (ECT); BIMCO; DVB Bank; Fortis Bank.
With students coming from all over the world; more than 30 academic staff members from
the Erasmus Faculties of Economics and Business Administration; industry partners;
visiting professors; and an extensive corporate network, the Erasmus MEL is a spearhead in
Holland's maritime cluster and an ambassador of the Nation's leading role in maritime
affairs.
MEL is the only taught course of its kind that combines, in a holistic way, shipping, ports,
terminal management and
logistics in the academic environment of two of Europe's top Schools: The
Erasmus School of Economics
and the Rotterdam School of Management. Together with academic
excellence, however, MEL strives to achieve a fine balance between theory and practice.
This is assured by the selection of our partners and the involvement of our Corporate
Network. Through guest lectures, seminars and company visits, MEL students are
continuously confronted with the preconceptions of 'conventional wisdom' and learn how to
place them in their proper and wider economic perspective.
In addition, our extensive Corporate Network enables MEL students to seek internship
and employment opportunities in the most prestigious 'blue chip' organisations and, in
many cases, take advantage of their infrastructure and information systems while writing
their thesis.
The University's long tradition in transport studies started with the work on shipping and
shipbuilding by our late colleague, Professor Jan Tinbergen, Nobel Prize Laureate in
Economics. This tradition continues nowadays through the PhD programmes in transport
and logistics of the Tinbergen Institute, the Erasmus Institute
of Management (ERIM), and the Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics (TRAIL) Research
Schools. Thus, cutting-edge research, often externally funded, finds its way to the
classroom in a top-down manner. Emphasis on applied research is based on our firm belief
that, notwithstanding the importance of 'research for the sake of research', in a
discipline as applied as transport and logistics the value of research is demonstrated by society's
willingness to underwrite it.
I trust that this website answers your questions about MEL, and I look forward
to welcoming you to Rotterdam and to our University.
Professor Hercules E. Haralambides
Director
Center for Maritime Economics and Logistics (MEL)
