Abstract
Maritime networks are one of the most important types of transportation networks in international logistics and it accounts for 90% of the global trade volume. However, the structure of maritime networks is severely impacted by tropical cyclones, especially the maritime network in the Northwest Pacific and the northern Indian Ocean. This paper investigates the vulnerability of the maritime network in the Northwest Pacific and the northern Indian Ocean to the influence of tropical cyclones through removing ports at high or very high tropical cyclones hazard levels and analyzing how the network structure characteristics change from a complex network point of view. From the results, we find that this maritime network is a small-world network and the degree distribution of ports follows a power law distribution. The ports in East Asia are impacted more severely by the tropical cyclones. Moreover, this maritime network exhibits some vulnerability to tropical cyclones. However, the interconnection of the survived ports is not severely impacted, when the network is attacked by tropical cyclones. The port system in the Philippines is most vulnerable to the influence of tropical cyclones, followed by the ports systems in Japan and China. The paper also shows that it is important for studies of maritime network vulnerability to identify the ports that are both important to the regional and cross-regional logistics and severely impacted by natural hazards. The findings provide a theoretical basis for optimizing the port layout and improving the ability of the network to resist damage caused by tropical cyclones.
Highlights
Maritime transport is the most important mode of transport in international logistics due to its high capacity, low freight rate, and use of natural waterways, and it accounts for 90% of the global trade volume [1]
We investigate the vulnerability of the maritime network through removing ports at high or very high tropical cyclones hazard levels and analyze how the network structure characteristics change from a complex network point of view
We find that the maritime network in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and the northern Indian Ocean does not perform well under the influence of tropical cyclones and exhibits some vulnerability
Summary
Maritime transport is the most important mode of transport in international logistics due to its high capacity, low freight rate, and use of natural waterways, and it accounts for 90% of the global trade volume [1]. The maritime network of the Northwest Pacific (the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean) and the northern Indian Ocean is an important part of the global maritime network; it has many international hub ports, such as Shanghai port, Busan port, Hong Kong port, Singapore port, Dubai port, and others. This network is a major component of China’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Road maritime network [2]. Studying the vulnerability of the maritime network of the Northwest Pacific and the northern Indian Ocean to the influence of tropical cyclones is of great significance, such research is generally lacking
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