Multinational Business and Transnational Regions

Marten Boon is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of History at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim.

Introduction

Transnational economic regions: capturing an illusive phenomenon

Resurrecting the Rhine as an economic region

Energy transition in the Rhine region

Part I Regional transformation — Energy transition in the Rhine region

Chapter 1 The post-war reconstruction and the rise of oil, 1945-1951

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The question of energy in post-war Western Europe

1.3 The impact of the Allied occupation on the Ruhr coal industry

1.4 The Allied refining program: restarting the hydrogenation plants

1.5 The case of Union Kraftstoff

1.6 The geographical consequences of the Allied occupation

1.7 Conclusion

Chapter 2 Oil unbounded: The Coal Crisis of 1957-8

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The competition between coal and oil, 1950-1955

2.3 The rise of fuel oil and the 1958 coal crisis

2.4 Stemming the tide: attempts to limit the rise of fuel oil

2.5 Conclusion

Chapter 3 The growth of chemical clusters in the Rhine region, 1960-73

3.1 Introduction

3.2 The Rhine-Ruhr refineries

3.3 Deutsche Shell and Union Kraftstoff, 1951-1958

3.4 The Rhineland refinery of Deutsche Shell

3.5 The post-war transition of the chemical industry

3.6 An oil and petrochemical cluster in the Rhine-Ruhr area

3.7 Effect of the transition on transport demand in the hinterland

3.8 Conclusions

Part II Regional connections — From Rhine to pipeline

Chapter 4 Pipelines: The national approach, 1955-6

4.1 Introduction

4.2 A pipeline to the Rhine-Ruhr area

4.3 Rotterdam competing with Wilhelmshaven

4.4 Wilhelmshaven: "the best deep water port in Europe"?

4.5 Conclusions

Chapter 5 The trans-European pipeline: The transnational approach: 1956-8

5.1 Introduction

5.2 From national to transnational: the trans-European pipeline plan

5.3 Further complications

5.4 France, oil and the Cold War

5.5 Endgame: The failure of the trans-European pipeline

5.6 Why the trans-European pipeline never materialised

5.7 Conclusion

Chapter 6 Expanding transnational connections, 1959-73

6.1 Introduction

6.2 The hydrocarbon hub: The Rotterdam port between 1950 and 1973

6.3 The expansion of the Rotterdam-Rhine pipeline, 1965-1968

6.4 The Rhine-Main pipeline, 1965-1971

6.5 Integrating chemical clusters in the Rhine basin, 1965-73

6.6 The Rotterdam-Antwerp pipeline, 1967-1969

6.7 Conclusion

Chapter 7 Transnational connections in the Rhine region: Evidence from transport flows

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Gateway to the Rhine? Rotterdam from transitopolis to industrial port

7.3 Oil flows in the Rhine region: The impact of pipelines

7.4 Transnational connections

7.5 Conclusion

Chapter 8 Conclusion