Dynamics of liner shipping network and port connectivity in supply chain systems: analysis on East Asia

The study of ports in supply chain systems is an emerging area of importance which has drawn more attention from researchers in recent years. This paper presents a new perspective in this research area by examining the calling patterns of container shipping services in order to understand the dynamics of port connectivity and inter-port relationships in the supply chains. Empirical evidence is drawn from four major ports in East Asia, namely Shanghai, Busan, Kaohsiung and Ningbo. The study identifies the shipping capacity, trade routes and geographical regions connected to the ports, shipping lines involved, and the extensity and intensity of inter-port relationships among the four container ports from liner shipping network’s perspective. The findings show that most of the shipping capacity employed on the major east–west trade routes became non-exclusive and involved calls at two or more of the four ports. Port planners, terminal operators and carriers could capitalise on opportunities through exploitation of complementary relationships that exist among the selected ports, such as offering a package for shipping lines to call at a portfolio of terminals owned by the same terminal operator. Policy and research implications as well as recommendations are discussed for various stakeholders concerned with port planning and regional development.     

Port economic cost functions: A service perspective

Ports provide services rather than producing physical products. However, port cost functions specify port cost as functions of physical products, e.g., port cargo throughput long-run cost is a function of port resource prices and cargo throughput (a physical product). In comparison, port cargo service long-run cost is a function of port resource prices, cargo service and shipper cargo received. The shipper provides cargo that is serviced by the port. A service cannot be touched and its user is involved in its provision. This paper derives port cost functions for which port outputs are “service outputs”, e.g., cargo, vessel and vehicle services.     

Co-evolution of the strategic reorientation of port actors: insights from the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Barcelona

This paper explores changes in the strategic orientation of port authorities and terminal operators towards the hinterland network in the Ports of Rotterdam and Barcelona. Port authorities and terminal operators are economically, institutionally and geographically related organizations. The argument here is that such organizations experience a mutually influential and interactive effect in their strategy over time. The research explores the evolution of the market, institutional and governance forces behind these organizations’ strategic orientation, while acknowledging their interdependence and interrelationship. To that end, it builds a conceptual framework analysing these organizations’ strategies in different points in time. It draws upon firms and port theories to design a co-evolutionary framework, which is later refined with insights gained from an empirical study of the port context.     

Port choice and freight forwarders

In light of the growing supply chain power of 3PLs and very limited empirical studies on port choice from the freight forwarders’ perspective, this paper tries to evaluate the major factors influencing port choice from the Southeast Asian freight forwarders’ perspective, their decision-making style and port selection process and draw out some policy implications for port operators and authorities. Efficiency is found to be the most important factor followed by shipping frequency, adequate infrastructure and location. Their selection process is complex and a two-stage process and supports the new approach that models ports within the framework of a supply chain.     

Recent maritime research projects on the Lower Loire area

This paper deals with the problems of access to an estuary port, the security of navigation and services such as towage provided for shipping. The port triptych is also considered — the port itself, its foreland and hinterland — showing to what extent the port can be seen as a fundamental feature of the regional economy.     

Port service chains and port performance evaluation

This paper provides a novel and unique methodology for evaluating the effectiveness performance of a port’s individual services by utilizing the concept of a port service chain – a service network utilized by a port’s service providers in the provision of the port’s services that accounts for the quality-of-service relationships among the services. If such relationships are ignored, the resource allocations by the port’s service providers to improve the quality of their port services will either over- or underestimate the amount of resources needed. A cooperative port service chain will always (under certain conditions) be more effective than a non-cooperative port service chain.     

Preliminary investigation of waterfront redevelopment in Chinese coastal port cities: the case of the eastern Dalian port areas

Since the turn of the millennium, waterfront redevelopment has been a new phenomenon in the coastal port cities of China and has become an important component of a global wave. In the context of urbanisation and globalisation, waterfront redevelopment provides not only various opportunities but also unprecedented challenges for the Chinese port cities. From a sustainability perspective, addressing the challenges requires thoroughly analysing the factors driving waterfront redevelopment and discovering the issues facing those coastal port cities. After reviewing the historical process of port development, based on the case of the eastern Dalian port areas, this paper attempts to explore the key factors behind the redevelopment and to discover the main issues facing Dalian cityport. The results show that forces at the global, national and local levels jointly drive redevelopment activities and that some national factors, such as aggressive real estate development in the past decade, play a remarkable role in this phenomenon. Consequently, timing on redevelopment, historic building conservation, reconnection of the waterfront to the city, and building a democratic decision-making process together challenge the sustainable future of redeveloped waterfronts in Dalian cityport and in other historic port cities in China.     

A strategic network choice model for global container flows: specification, estimation and application

Container flows have been booming for decades. Expectations for the 21st century are less certain due to changes in climate and energy policy, increasing congestion and increased mobility of production factors. This paper presents a strategic model for the movement of containers on a global scale in order to analyse possible shifts in future container transport demand and the impacts of transport policies thereon. The model predicts yearly container flows over the world’s shipping routes and passing through 437 container ports around the world, based on trade information to and from all countries, taking into account more than 800 maritime container liner services. The model includes import, export and transhipment flows of containers at ports, as well as hinterland flows. The model was calibrated against observed data and is able to reproduce port throughput statistics rather accurately. The paper also introduces a scenario analysis to understand the impact of future, uncertain developments in container flows on port throughput. The scenarios include the effects of slow steaming, an increase in land based shipping costs and an increased use of large scale infrastructures such as the Trans-Siberian rail line and the opening of Arctic shipping routes. These scenarios provide an indication of the uncertainty on the expected port throughputs, with a particular focus on the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.     

The evolution of a regional container port system: the Pearl River Delta

This study investigates the progress of container port system development in South China, focusing particularly on the interplay between Hong Kong and the other ports in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. After identifying the downgrading trend of Hong Kong from a transshipment hub port for Asia and for China as a whole to a regional load center and the emergence of other deep-sea direct-service ports, the paper looks into the causes of this structural change of the port system. Four major causes are identified: the cost-base competition, the impact of the unique “one-country two-systems” policy, the impact of globalization and container standardization, and the impact of multi-modal accessibility and connectivity. The paper reveals that the interplay between different governments and between the governments and port operators are the local mechanisms that together as a whole respond to the shippers’ needs and the shipping lines’ pressure. It confirms that the interdependencies and competitive relations between terminals are being played out at a regional level. While the particular situation of the PRD is unique in many regards, the features emerging there, with its dominant hub, its network of feeder ports and its emerging direct-service non-hub terminals, are being replicated elsewhere.     

Going West? Spatial polarization of the North Korean port system

This paper analyzes North Korean ports in light of existing models of port system evolution. It reviews the economic and political factors shaping port concentration in developed, developing, and socialist countries. A database on vessel movements allows for the analysis of individual North Korean port traffic by total capacity circulated, cargo type, fleet nationality, immediate origin and destination, and berthing time. While ideological factors and military control hamper port modernization and trade openness, traffic concentration at the Pyongyang–Nampo gateway highlights the spatial polarization in the capital region at the expense of Eastern ports for which inland transport limitations and industrial decline have become major issues. The North Korean case only partly fits general models because traffic concentration occurs due to geopolitical isolation and internal limitations rather than economic and trade growth.     

Port connectivity in a logistic network: The case of Bohai Bay,China

While traditional port literature uses origin and destination pairs in global shipping networks, recent developments of dry ports in the hinterland, feeder service networks, and heavy foreign trade traffic make the ports in Bohai Bay a unique case in the analysis of inter-port connectivity and competitiveness. Using an integrated port connectivity index to define the above features, the advantages and challenges of individual ports can be assessed in a dynamic interconnected environment. The model can provide unbiased port development strategies for each port to ensure long-term sustainability.     

Patterns of maritime supply chains: slot capacity analysis

This paper offers a tool for analysing patterns of maritime supply chains. The study uses empirical data on slot capacity deployed by container shipping lines for analysing ports (as nodes) and routes and shipping lines (as links) that are embedded within the maritime supply chain. The ports of Singapore and Hong Kong are chosen to illustrate the respective transhipment and gateway perspectives. Findings reveal that geographical location and changes in the constitution of players can have reverberations on the maritime supply chain dynamics that traverse the port. Furthermore, evidence from trade route data also shows that maritime supply chain dynamics associated with transhipment and gateway ports could be governed by different levels of scope economies, demand complementarity and market power. The paper illustrates the abundant potential of slot capacity analysis for academic and industry/market research. Thus, future research can be pursued in various contexts and for different applications.     

A strategic appraisal of the attractiveness of seaport-based transport corridors: the Southern African case

The past decade has brought significant growth at, and competition between regional gateway ports and intermediate hub container ports in Southern Africa. Corridors are the essential link between these ports and continental hinterlands. Capacity expansions of seaport and corridor networks (resources), in conjunction with efficient transport services/operations (capabilities) are important to guarantee the attractiveness of a port–corridor combination. This paper focuses on the attractiveness of three Southern African container gateway port corridors (Southcor, Natcor, and Trans-Kalahari Corridors), all contesting the same continental hinterland, namely, Gauteng. By means of a corridor stakeholder survey, this study merges the corporate strategy concept of resource and capability appraisal, with various theoretical principles of corridor attractiveness. The resultant adapted resource and capability corridor appraisal model is then applied to the three corridor cases in question. Consequently, this study presents an empirical framework which identifies each corridor’s key strengths, key weaknesses and the extent to which each corridor is deemed ‘attractive’ by its stakeholders. Furthermore, this study reconciles theoretical assumptions of corridor attractiveness against actual perceptions of corridor attractiveness from surveyed stakeholders.     

The development of the Yangtze River container port system

This paper sheds an empirical light on port development patterns by discussing the structure and the development of the Yangtze River ports system. We argue that the Yangtze River system is going through a regionalization phase, mainly in relation to the port of Shanghai. This process started on the lower Yangtze but is now also moving upstream. The transition towards the port regionalization phase is typically a gradual and market-driven process that mirrors the increased focus of market players on logistics integration. This paper builds on the existing literature on port systems and adapts port development models to river ports. Furthermore, we employ some statistical techniques that are common to the analysis of port systems, and introduce some techniques that have not been used much by transport geographers in ports. This paper will address the dynamics in the Yangtze River ports system by analyzing the level of cargo concentration and the degree of inequality in operations of the container ports. The paper also assesses observed differences in development of ports in different areas along the river (upstream/downstream) and reflects on the role of ownership structures in shaping regional load centre networks.     

UK supply chain carbon mitigation strategies using alternative ports and multimodal freight transport operations

In the last few decades, the building evidence that CO₂e emissions lead to climate change has pointed to a need to reduce CO₂e emissions. This research uses five scenarios in the context of UK import trade to assess total CO₂e emissions and costs of import re-routing containers. The overall objective is to assess possible carbon mitigation strategies for UK supply chains by using a combination of alternative ports and revised multimodal strategies. The model adopted includes three elements: port expansion, container handling and freight transport. The alternative scenarios explore different settings modal shift and short sea shipping.     

我国铁水联运港口作业区布局优化研究

铁水联运港口作业区是铁水联运作业的重要场所之一,铁水联运港口作业区布局直接影响着铁水联运的作业效率。为提高铁水联运港口作业效率,减少因方案调整产生的无效工作,在阐述铁水联运港口作业区组成的基础上,使用SLP法和铁水联运港口作业区布局优化模型进行两阶段耦合优化研究,以马鞍山郑蒲港区为例验证铁水联运港口作业区布局优化模型及其算法的可行性,充分发掘铁路联运港口作业区影响因素,提升铁水联运港口作业区域布局工作效率的优势,为铁水联运的总体布局方案提供科学合理的依据。     

The dry port concept: connecting container seaports with the hinterland

The dry port concept is based on a seaport directly connected by rail with inland intermodal terminals where containers can be dealt with in the same way as if they were in a seaport. The main purpose of the article is to extend the theory behind the dry port concept and to define three dry port categories; distant, midrange and close. The findings show that the dry port concept can help identify ways of shifting freight volumes from road to more energy efficient traffic modes that are less harmful to the environment, relieve seaport cities from some congestion and facilitate improved logistics solutions for shippers in the port’s hinterland.     

Levels of internationalization in the container shipping industry: an assessment of the port networks of the large container shipping companies

This paper examines the internationalization level of the world’s largest container shipping companies by examining their port networks. The results of our analysis show that only three of the nineteen companies could be considered as being truly ‘International’ and service the ‘lion’s share’ of the major and minor ports distributed across the globe. The port networks of the other companies in our survey, whilst having individualized features, shared common characteristics. Guided by the ‘Uppsala Model of Incremental Internationalization’ (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977), we were able to identify four internationalization levels of a container shipping company that are indicated by their port network.We argue that the port network plays an additional role as it contributes to the internationalization level of the container shipping companies. This is important because the internationalization level affects the container shipping company’s ability to expand its customer base both at a local and international level. Local customers would have access to a larger international destination network and international customers would be able access a larger local distribution network without transhipping between different companies.Amongst other issues, we were able to determine that, for the analyzed container shipping companies, ‘Internationalization’ of a port network means including or excluding ports in specific regions or sub-regions in their own network, and that a company’s home base or history plays a significant role in this development.     

AHP—Fuzzy在无水港发展潜力评价中的应用

通过分析无水港的空间结构及发展模式,选取影响无水港发展的7大因素,构建无水港发展潜力评价指标体系,运用层次分析法(AHP)和多层模糊(Multi-Level Fuzzy)综合评判相结合的模型评价福建泉州晋江无水港发展潜力。实证结果表明:该项目发展水平良好,发展潜力较大,物流业发展水平、地区经济环境与无水港执行效率表现较为突出,制约其发展的主要因素是交通基础设施。     

Port traffic risks – A study of accidents in Hong Kong waters

This paper investigates port traffic risk issues by discussing historic accidents in Hong Kong port. A total of 2012 marine accidents with 94 deaths were reported in Hong Kong waters in year 2001–2005, while 660,427 oceanic ships visited the port. A negative binomial regression model is used to analyze the record of dataset. It is found that port traffic risks are of certain pattern and collision accidents are the most popular incidents when port traffic is heavy. Passenger-type vessels have higher potential for injuries during accidents. The findings have identified statistically significant factors for improvements in managing port traffic risks.