Spatial pattern evolution of Yangtze River Delta ports group based on GIS approach

Abstract

Exploring the spatial pattern evolution characteristics of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) ports group is of great significance to promote the coordinated development of the ports group. This study takes 31 ports in the YRD region as the research object and uses the GIS method to analyze the spatial pattern evolution of the YRD ports group from 2008 to 2020. The results show that from 2008 to 2020, the gravity center of the YRD ports group tends to move northwest-northwestsoutheast along the main axis, which indicates that the development speed of the ports in the southeast is faster than that of the ports in the northwest; and the spatial distribution of the YRD ports group has an obvious positive correlation, but the correlation degree is low and increases gradually. The local agglomeration effects are significant, with the high-high clustered areas distributed in the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, Shanghai Port and Suzhou Port, and the low-low clustered areas distributed in Anhui inland port. However, with the integrated development of the YRD, the differences in the development of large ports in Southeast YRD are narrowing, and the dual polarization between Anhui ports and ports in the southeast is becoming more and more obvious.