Container Port Development Research Articles

An empirical study of the performance of the sixth generation ports model with smart ports with reference to major container ports in mainland China

Since the UNCTAD proposed the initial port model, called the first generation port model (1GP) in 1994, its adaptation and transformation have evolved, reflecting not only the evolution of port operations and technological advancements, but also the resilience of ports to natural disasters and supply disruptions. Recently, the trio of COVID-19, digitalization, and decarbonization (CDD) has emerged as core challenges whilst providing numerous opportunities for building adaption and resilience for the port industry. In light of this, the sixth generation ports (6GP) model has emerged. This paper addresses crucial research gaps by empirically testing the 6GP model, emphasizing the impact of emerging factors of the CDD, including 1) the lack of empirical testing for the 6GP model and the emphasis on the CDD; 2) the exploration of factors contributing to the significant development of Chinese container ports; 3) the investigation into how the CDD lead to the reversal of the port devolution continuum path. In doing so, an empirical study has been conducted, focusing on six major container ports in mainland China, all of which are among the world’s top 10 container ports in terms of container throughput. It evaluates the importance of the criteria of the 6GP model with the performance of the six ports. The findings of this research are discussed for managerial and policy implications, enriching the existing literature on port devolution, and providing the port industry with a holistic view of port development and strategy in the post-pandemic period.

Evaluation of the Competitiveness of China’s Coastal Container Ports In the Context of the Maritime Silk Road

A scientific and reasonable assessment of port competitiveness will facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the current development of Chinese container ports along the Maritime Silk Road. Considering the network attributes of ports and the repetitive information among indicators, this paper proposes a novel port competitiveness evaluation and grading model based on entropy-improved catastrophe progression method. On the basis of a directed and weighted shipping network, the “dominance” indicator is innovatively introduced. The evaluation system including land-oriented competitiveness, sea-oriented competitiveness, hinterland support capacity and production and operation capacity provides a comprehensive assessment of port competitiveness. It is found that: land-oriented and sea-oriented competitiveness have the greatest influence on port competitiveness. A pattern of “One core, two wings, and four ports’ coordination” has been developed among coastal ports in China. The competition among ports in the Bohai Rim region is fierce, and production and operation ability of ports in the southeast coast needs to be strengthened. Fuzhou port and Rizhao port have high hinterland support and high development potential. The results of this paper can provide decision support for the development and upgrading of China’s coastal ports under the Maritime Silk Road initiative.

Challenges and opportunities for Southeast Asia's container ports throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the Southeast Asian seaport system, with a decrease in container throughput and ship calls. However, the pandemic has also presented excellent opportunities for ports to increase competitiveness and market share, as some ports are weakened. This study will assess challenges and opportunities for container port development during the pandemic. The study analyses Southeast Asia's port system through three perspectives: market share gain/loss, changes in market concentration, and the relationship between market share gain/loss and efficiency. The study found that Vietnam and Malaysia's seaports have grown during the pandemic due to maintaining domestic production, increasing transportation demand, and changes in shipping routes. Moreover, small and medium-sized ports gain market share from larger ports, this leads to a decrease in the degree of concentration and shows their active participation in the regional transport network, providing more route options for shippers. The study also shows that while some seaports that gained market share were inefficient, some that lost market share were efficient due to the timely implementation of policies to cope with COVID-19. Finally, many ports are struggling to recover due to inadequate infrastructure, equipment, and low loading/unloading productivity, or facing unexpected risks.

Smart container port development: recent technologies and research advances

Abstract Smart port construction projects have gradually emerged across the world in recent years, owing to the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud, and the Internet of Things (IoT). However, for the advantages and limitations of smart port project construction technology and construction methods, people temporarily lack a systematic understanding and summary. In this article, by checking the number of publications, geographical distribution and keyword cluster distribution, the research status and technical progress of the development of smart container ports are comprehensively reviewed from three aspects: port data acquisition technology, facilities and equipment, and intelligent decision-making. The research conclusions can provide references for the development of smart container ports and guide the future development of smart container ports.

Development of GPCN Model to Assess Domestic and International Competition Patterns of Coastal Container Ports in China

The importance of a port’s strategic position has long been recognized, during which process inter-port competition is becoming increasingly fierce. This paper aims to assess the domestic and international competition patterns of 43 coastal container ports in China. A global port competition network model (GPCN) is developed based on the global liner shipping network (GLSN) model and the multiple linkage analysis (MLA) method. In the GPCN model, three competition indicators (competition degree, competition intensity, and competitive pressure) are proposed to quantitatively describe the competitive patterns of Chinese container ports. This study has found that ports tend to compete with other ports that have similar competition degrees, and competition among large ports may be more intense. Additionally, a port’s traffic volume is correlated well with its competitiveness; the larger Chinese ports, such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ningbo-Zhoushan, and Hong Kong, have put much more competitive pressure on their smaller competitors than they are subjected to, and Singapore and Busan ports are found as the main competitive threats to the development of Chinese coastal container ports. The methodology developed in this study can provide a good strategic decision-making and guidance tool to quantitatively assess the competition situations of other countries’ coastal container ports.

Hub port choice and shipping connectivity in Southeast Asia during COVID-19 pandemic: implications for post-pandemic competition landscape

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the container shipping and port industry in terms of its reach and scale. The research analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on hub port choice and shipping connectivity using the case of major container ports in Southeast Asia. This study enriches the definition of connectivity and proposes a new research approach that differentiates the order of port-call for mainline services. The research approach is applied to the case of major container ports in Southeast Asia for the Asia-Europe trade route. The study further analyzes hubbing strategies of major shipping lines and alliances with the application of data mining on global satellite ship data. Findings indicate shipping connectivity to have grown in Singapore particularly at the expense of Port Klang during the COVID-19 pandemic as evidenced by changes in the shipping networks of The Alliance and Ocean Alliance. The research offers important policy and managerial implications concerning the post-COVID competition landscape covering the aspects of joint venture terminals, shipping alliance networks, and container port development.

Club convergence and allometry in Chinese mainland coastal container ports

Research on container port development is of great theoretical and practical significance because of the port's crucial role in the local economic system and regional transportation system. Understanding the development dynamics of container ports is important when formulating related operational and management strategies in the future. Hence, this article investigates the club convergence of 25 coastal ports in mainland China spanning from 2006 to 2020 in terms of container throughput, which signals the development of a port to some extent. The study finds three clubs in China's coastal container port system, with various transitional behaviors indicating that the whole system has shown a tendency toward a slight centralization since 2013 and that small and medium-sized ports are regressing. On this basis, analysis on the container port system is conducted by employing an allometric model. The result shows that allometric relations indeed exist not only among three factors linked with port development, namely, port container throughput, port city's import-export volume, and port maritime connectivity, but also among the three port clubs. Moreover, the allometric relations slightly differ and vary over time for the three port clubs, thus implying that large ports may have different growth mechanisms from small and medium-sized ports. Based on the findings mentioned above, several general policy implications are proposed, which may impact port production, construction, and operations management in mainland China.

Development of Small Container Ports: Case Study – Port of Bar

Container ports are just one point on the international transport chain. Therefore, their development is determined by the cooperation of all participants in the transport chain that connects users of transport services with the ports, both economic entities and administration. This paper presents the basic preconditions for development of small container ports and the challenges they face. The Port of Bar was used to study the case. The main goal of this paper is to determine the development steps or phases that small container ports should implement in order to better position themselves on the regional market, i.e. to meet the requirements set by shipping companies. The paper analyzes different types of transport connections with the hinterland as well as a state of port infrastructure and superstructure in relation to ports in the region. The research hypothesis says that the correct sequence of different development steps directly affects the development of small container ports. The methods which will be used in the paper are analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, generalization and concretization, as well as the meth-od of comparison. The results of the research will provide a new understanding of the issue of development policies of small container ports in relation to available capacities and transport connections. The results can be used by the management structures of small container ports, but also in the work of national bodies in the field of maritime and transport. The research is based on the example of the Port of Bar as well as the ports in the region of Balkans un-til it doesn't take into consideration other small container ports from around the world. Therefore, the obtained results of the research could not be completely generalized. Thus is, this issue requires further research that would consider its various aspects.

Migration of container terminals as their natural process of evolution: Case study of Gdańsk and Gdynia ports

The paper proposes a theoretical model of container terminals and container port development, based on the life cycle theory, threshold theory and catastrophe theory, and in references to Kuznets' swings (interpreted as waves of infrastructural investments), and Kondratiev long economic waves.The aim of this model is to explain the development process of a container terminal and a port within one technological generation, as well as in intergenerational configuration, and relate it to the migration process of container terminals in the scale of a port-city urban area. Then, the applicability of this model was checked in the case of the container ports in Gdynia and Gdańsk (Poland). The analysed evolution process of ports of Gdynia and Gdańsk conforms with the proposed theoretical model, proving that the migration of container terminals within these ports is a part of their natural process of evolution, being a consequence of their threshold development and location splitting.Considering the physical location of development investments within the container ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia, it was noticed that there are two basic directions of migration of container terminals. One is the migration of the port's main container activity (core terminal or terminals), being a result of a generational change taking place after overcoming the maturity point. The second type of migration is connected with dispersion of port development investments in the increasingly distant port hinterland, caused by the need of the life extension of terminals within one technological generation.In an analogy to the processes of development of living organisms, we can treat the migration of terminal outsourced functions as a “vegetative” increase, being an attempt to extend the life of the terminal, while the migration of the core terminal within the port area (erecting a new generation terminal) can be treated as “generative” growth.

Research on Loading and Unloading Resource Scheduling and Optimization of Rail–Road Transportation in Container Terminal Based on “Internet +” —for Ghana Container Port Development Planning

Based on the “Internet +” technology, this paper establishes a logistics information platform for the container terminal. Under the premise of the scheduled arrival time and quantity of the truck, this paper aims at minimizing the working time of the loading and unloading equipment and the stay time of the train and truck in the station, and develops a scheduling optimization of loading and unloading model combing equilibrium assignment and flexible scheduling to realize the seamless transfer between rail and road transportation in container terminal. In order to solve the model, a multi-layer coding genetic algorithm with chromosome feasibility is designed to obtain the optimal scheduled time for the truck, and the optimal operation sequence of the gantry crane. Referring to China’s container station, this paper takes Takoradi container terminal of Ghana as a case to verify the accuracy and effectiveness of the model and algorithm and provides the medium or long term planning for Ghana’s development.

Next generation mega container ports: implications of traffic composition on sea space demand

ABSTRACT Demand for sea space brought about by increasing container-shipping traffic has important implications on how this space is managed and used. This is particularly important given the long-term nature, high-asset specificity, high- opportunity cost of investment, and significant economic impact of container port activity on a locality. The challenge is especially pressing for ports, which are facing constraints in seaside capacity where container traffic also has to co-exist with the needs of other types of ship traffic. This challenge is likely be multiplied for next generation container ports, which are expected to handle even larger traffic volumes. These ports are also likely to face competing sea space demands from other economic and social activities especially when they are concurrently major confluences of trade, logistics, and urban populations. This is the first research to investigate in detail the impact and importance of investigating sea space requirements from the perspective of cargo traffic composition and ship capacity. Results show that transshipment containers can generate much higher demand for sea space due to the higher volume of shipping capacity that accompanies such traffic. Sustainability issues and managerial and policy implications pertaining to the development of next generation container ports are provided.

The relationship between transhipment incidence and throughput volatility in North European and Mediterranean container ports

Extant literature echoes that ports with a high transhipment share (T/S), and thus a high dependency on sea-sea transhipment or T/S flows, are vulnerable. It is less clear whether the vulnerability of T/S oriented container ports leads to more throughput volatility compared to gateway ports (i.e. inland-bound cargo) or ports with a mixed cargo base (i.e. T/S and gateway flows). In this perspective, throughput volatility, which denotes the variability or the dispersion of the cargo throughput in a port throughout a given period, is of great concern to port actors.This paper examines the relationship between throughput volatility in North European and Mediterranean container ports and the sea-sea transhipment incidence/dependency of these ports. First, we group a large sample of North European and Mediterranean ports in transhipment dependency classes ranging from transhipment ports over mixed ports to gateway ports. Second, we calculate the container throughput volatility between 1990 and 2016 based on two volatility measures. Third, we analyse the relationship between these volatility measures and transhipment incidence. Finally, we compare the results per port group (in terms of transhipment incidence level). The statistical test results show that throughput volatility is much higher for transhipment hubs then for other container ports. This paper also points to some regional market-related elements that explain the observed differences in throughput volatility between port groups. This study can help port planners, managing bodies of ports and terminal operators in their decision-making in the field of container port development and commercial strategies.

Evolvement of Rank-Size Distribution of Regional Container Ports: Case Study of Yangtze River Delta of China

Regional container port operation plays a crucial role in international trade and economic development. Amid fierce competition, orderly running of regional ports is vital. The rank-size status of the regional container ports indicates the orderliness and distribution concentration of port system development and is the focus of port administrations and port operators. This paper introduces the rank-size distribution rule into studies on the development of regional container port systems and proves that Zipf's three-parameter model can effectively describe the evolvement of the rank-size system of regional container ports, taking the container port group in the Yangtze River Delta as an example. This paper finds that the regional container ports tend to become concentrated in high ranks during evolvement. Moreover, the macroeconomic environment has a great impact on the distribution concentration of regional container ports. Economic procyclicality can accelerate port concentration. On the other hand, economic counter-cyclicality will induce port decentralization. The results of this paper are conducive to port administrations and enterprises to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the development of regional container ports and to formulate the proper development plans. The results are also helpful for government departments to well design the development strategies for port and shipping development and better steer the benign development of regional container port groups.

Measuring the contribution of logistics service delivery performance outcomes and deep-sea container liner connectivity on port efficiency

One objective for countries in the European common market is to optimize the performance of their multimodal logistics chains. The attainment of this goal requires the continuous development of container ports' performance, better customer satisfaction and - at the same time - to deter the occurrence of waste and bottleneck. Many regions in Europe are shifting from a single-port to a multi-port gateway situation; their ports frequently have overlapping hinterlands and are therefore increasingly facing competition and rivalry between each other. This paper examines container ports located in six countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the UK. It focuses on sensitivities to the inclusion of country-specific measurements on logistics service delivery performance outcomes on port efficiency. Port efficiency is measured with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The results suggest that: (1) efficiency measurements for Danish, Finnish, Swedish and British ports are heavily influenced by whether logistics service delivery outcomes are included or not; (2) Icelandic and Norwegian ports appear to be not sensitive to whether logistics service delivery outcomes are included or not; (3) on average, the container ports located in countries that are directly called by deep-sea transcontinental container liners are over-performers and under-performers with regard to technical efficiency and scale efficiency, respectively. We further apply a second-stage regression analysis to explain the impact of country-specific contextual factors on DEA-based efficiency scores.

An Empirical Study on the Efficiency of Container Terminals in Russian and Korean Ports using DEA models

The steady growth of seaborne trade has resulted in the further development of container ships, ports, and container terminals, and the operating efficiency of a container terminal is a decisive element for its competitive ability in international markets. The aim of this research is to evaluate the relative efficiency of Russian and South Korean container terminals. For this purpose, the output-oriented DEA was applied to 31 container terminals of Russian and South Korean seaports for the years from 2012 to 2014. The results indicate that Korean container terminals exhibited higher efficiency scores than their Russian counterparts.

Inland Container Terminals in the Function of the Northern Adriatic Ports Enhanced Operation

Continuous growth in the Northern Adriatic ports container traffic has caused a high utilization rate of the existing loading/unloading and storage capacities. In order to relieve pressure in ports and avoid traffic congestion and overcrowding which are already occurring, a possible solution is imposed by the construction of a new inland container terminal in their catchment background. This would meet the need for additional storage areas, speed up the flow of containers and ensure sustainable development of the Northern Adriatic container ports. In this paper, a proposition is presented for development of an inland container terminal in Kotoriba as a transit logistics centre for the ports of Rijeka, Trieste and Koper. Using the concept of their transport interlinkage and business policy pursuing their common appearance on the market, unlimited possibilities will be provided for the development of the Northern Adriatic supply chain toward the markets of the Central and Eastern Europe

A Study of Concentration of Coastal Container Ports in China

To study the rationality of concentration of coastal container ports in China, a comparison of container port concentration of China and other countries' has been carried out. The result shows that the concentration of Chinese ports is relatively low, but the container throughput of Chinese ports is relatively high and their average container throughput is much higher than other countries’ ports’. If we continuously promoted the concentration of coastal container ports, the main Chinese ports' container throughout would grow excessively. That will bring some negative effects to the port located cities and hinder the healthiness and steadiness of port development. So, although the current concentration of Chinese ports is relatively low, in consideration of the facts of our country, the status of low concentration should be maintained or becomes even lower, to ensure the sustainable development of coastal container ports.

The Role of Feeder Shipping in Chinese Container Port Development

Abstract The future development of China's container ports has become a critical issue, due to the sector's dependence on international trade and the excessive interport competition that exists both within China itself and with the ports of neighboring countries. This article investigates the potential for utilizing domestic feeder shipping services (i.e., coastal and river container shipping services that carry both international and domestic cargoes) as a new source of future long-term growth in China's container port sector. The Gini coefficient is utilized as an indicator for assessing the evolution of throughput over time for the 12 major container ports involved in feeder shipping operations in China. By applying decomposition analysis to a time series of throughput data, the key contributions of feeder shipping services to port development are identified. In addition, structural and spatial concentration effects on corresponding market segment components are computed. Finally, research findings provide evidence that there are potential opportunities for container ports to benefit from burgeoning feeder services carrying domestic trade and engaging in coastal transshipment activities.

Optimizing overseas container transportation: A case involving transatlantic ports

This study focuses on the importance of the development of maritime container ports in the case involving transatlantic container transport in order to ascertain an optimal model of container flows between container terminals in the eastern coast of the United States and those in Western and Northern Europe. The model proposed by the authors is developed using the following eight key elements: transport infrastructure and suprastructure, use of intelligent information systems, economic growth, transport ecology, cargo flows, innovations, safety and security, and transport energy. The research builds mainly upon secondary statistics data analysis. The authors suggest that there is a close and strong connection between the development rate of maritime containers ports and the proposed model for transport optimization, which considerably influence the level of attractiveness of maritime container terminals.

Optimization of Plane Slots Number for Container Yard Based on Two-Stage Stochastic Programming

Appropriate plane slots number of the container yard is of great importance to the sustainable development of low-carbon container ports. Considering the container type, handling process, cost and benefit of unit yard space, etc., a two-stage stochastic programming model with the goal of maximizing the yard profit was established by choosing the maximum daily storage number of containers as a random variable. The maximum yard profit and the minimum penalty function are respectively chosen as the goal in the first and second stage. The example results show that the value obtained by the two-stage stochastic programming is smaller than that by the specification. The proposed model provides an optimization method for the determination of plane slots number through effectively lessening the influence of uncertainties and saving resource cost.