Port Cluster Research Articles

Transitions and suggestions for China's coastal port reclamation policies

China has the largest extent of reclamation in the world. Since the year 2000, the reclaimed areas have been utilized for ports, industries, and urban expansion. Ports are key to land-sea coordination and regional development. The study of port reclamation patterns and environmental strategies for port clusters has become the focus of coastal zone sustainable development. Ports are the only land usage type which are dependent on reclamation activites, and play important roles in driving economic development and world trade. Since 2002, port reclamation in China has undergone several phases, such as an acceleration stage, peak stage, deceleration stage, and stagnation stage. However, new situations have been demonstrated for port reclamation projects which include the following: Stronger demands for port reclamation and stricter reclamation policies; ecological demands of port reclamation; area in different stages of reclamation; unbalanced spatial-temporal distributions of reclamation activities; coordination of reclamation related policies; and imbalances between filling and dredging practices. Generally speaking, research findings have shown that land use efficiency, reclamation management and ecological restoration require improvement. Management model of port reclamation, adaptation strategies to rising sea level rise, and ecological compensation systems are also needed to be improved. Therefore, further research in the field of land reclamation has important implications for scientifically regulating the spatial patterns of port reclamation activities, as well as promoting the sustainable development of port-dense coastal zones.

Regional economic losses of China's coastline due to typhoon-induced port disruptions

Port based transportations are key elements governing the operation of global maritime logistics. In China, the southeast coastline suffers from typhoons frequently every year and causes many disruptions to port operations and thus economic losses. Quantitative evaluation of coastal ports' economic losses induced by typhoons is quite demanding and can serve as guidance for port operation planning and disaster prevention. In this paper, a framework based on a hybrid wind numerical model for assessing the direct and indirect economic losses of coastline caused by typhoon-induced extreme wind is proposed. The estimation of port disruptions and their durations is realized based on the typhoon hybrid wind numerical model. For the direct economic losses, this model considers losses to the port based on the loading/unloading operations of containers. The disruption days and economic losses of 31 ports along China's coastline are selected. These include ports from the Bohai Rim Port Cluster, Yangtze River Delta Port Cluster, Southeastern Coastal Port Cluster, Pearl River Delta Port Cluster, and Southwestern Coastal Port Cluster. The analysis takes the record of typhoons from 2006 to 2020 for this investigation. The influence of time-varying variables on economic losses, such as economic growth rate, has been considered. For the indirect economic losses, the input-output models of 11 different provinces (or municipalities) are employed to analyze each sector. Features of adopting a climate model in the economic evaluations are discussed.

Integrated governance of the Yangtze River Delta port cluster using niche theory: A case study of Shanghai Port and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port

The integrated governance of port clusters is an important way for economic powers to improve port efficiency and marine economic benefits. As the Yangtze River Delta port cluster is the most densely distributed port cluster with the largest throughput in China's coastal region, further strengthening its integrated governance and enhancing its global influence is a key element of China's strategy to promote the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region. We investigate the niches of Shanghai Port and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, both of which are critical ports in the Yangtze River Delta port cluster. The results show that Shanghai Port is superior to Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in terms of economic contribution, competitiveness, resource utilization, and sustainable development capability. Meanwhile, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port has advantages in natural hardware and resources and has huge development potential. To enhance the economic radiation and international competitiveness of the Yangtze River Delta port cluster, it is necessary to strengthen integrated governance, form a reasonable division of labor among ports, and achieve win‒win cooperation among ports. In addition, the government should strengthen the overall planning of coastal management, improve the functional positioning of each port, strengthen the integrated management of waterways, and promote the innovation of cooperation models between ports. Finally, the integrated management of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River Delta port cluster should be strengthened, especially the integrated cooperation in marine ecological protection.

ЦИФРОВА ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЯ ІНФРАСТРУКТУРИ МОРСЬКИХ ПОРТОВИХ КЛАСТЕРІВ

The article highlights the potential of digital transformation in optimizing maritime port clusters. A primary focus is given to the implementation of blockchain technologies to ensure transparency, security, and efficiency of information flows. Digital transformation is highly significant for seaport clusters, as it enhances the efficiency and competitiveness of these facilities. The authors examine the need for business process and management strategy adaptation to maximize the benefits of technological upgrades. Port clusters must learn to swiftly respond to changing market conditions, leveraging digital innovations to maintain competitiveness and steady growth. The integration of "green" technologies also appears promising for the sustainable development of the port industry. The article discusses the role of a specialized portal that facilitates coordination and integration of port activity participants, improving service quality and optimizing responses to market challenges. Based on research conducted, the authors have constructed a diagram outlining the functional capabilities of the portal for a seaport cluster. This diagram serves to identify the key functional components of the portal, and to improve comprehension and optimise processes taking place within the seaport cluster. The portal facilitates centralised control and management, enhancing seaport cluster productivity, safety and competitiveness. The authors analysed the platform's integrated capabilities to optimise seaport cluster activities. These functionalities aim to enhance resource management, streamline logistics processes and promote collaboration among different members of the port cluster. This, in turn, leads to better productivity and rational resource utilization. The study's results demonstrated that implementing digital transformation via blockchain technology in seaport clusters using a portal enhances operation management and security. Additionally, it encourages resource optimization and industry sustainability, thereby rendering it more competitive and viable amidst present-day demands and challenges.

Узагальнення та формування підходів до класифікації кластерних структур і портових кластерів

The article is aimed at generalizing the world practice along with forming the approaches to classifying clusters, including port clusters, introducing clusterization into the activities of Ukrainian ports in order to solve urgent problems of the port industry. The article uses general scientific methods: analysis and synthesis, deduction, grouping, structural and system analyses. Both domestic and foreign literature on types and features of cluster formation is analyzed; the process of cluster development at different stages is defined; a generalized table with different approaches to the classification of clusters, including port clusters, is formed; the possibilities of creating port clusters in Ukraine are considered. It is determined that the most important criteria for classification of clusters are: industry affiliation (woodworking, financial, tourism, pharmaceutical enterprises); development factors (demand-oriented, located in the place of availability of labor resources and these, the location of which is first determined by natural factors); the stage of cluster development; the internal structure of the cluster; the way the cluster appears; the scale of cluster activity. As for port clusters, the economic substantiation for the creation of a port cluster should represent the demand for a certain cargo base. Therefore, it is advisable to analyze the cargo flow to determine its discreteness. The practical significance of the article lies in the fact that the proposed classification features of clusters in general and port clusters in particular allow determining the vector of direction for introducing the best solutions in Ukrainian port activities. The advantage of introducing the cluster conception into the maritime economic complex of Ukraine will be the promotion of holistic development and growth of the innovativeness of the industry. Thanks to this, it is possible to achieve economic effects, as well as increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian ports.

Identifying the partition of port clusters and hierarchical structure for port networks

Identifying the partition of port clusters and hierarchical structure for port networks

Port Integration under Government Intervention: Analysis Based on the Development of Beibu Gulf Port Cluster

Port Integration under Government Intervention: Analysis Based on the Development of Beibu Gulf Port Cluster

Port Efficiency Based on the Super-Efficiency EBM-DEA-SDM Model: Empirical Evidence from China

Guangdong Province enjoys a very high economic status in China especially in terms of port construction. In response to the port development directions in China, the Guangdong government released a policy about the construction of Guangdong ports in the next 15 years. Based on the policy, this study proposes to evaluate the port efficiency of major ports in Guangdong Province during 2011–2020 using the Super-efficiency EBM-DEA model that considers undesirable outputs, and the spatial effect of port efficiency and its influencing factors is further analyzed using the spatial Durbin model. The empirical results shows that the overall port efficiency in Guangdong Province is not high and varies widely among port clusters, thereby lacking synergistic development. The results of the spatial Durbin model show that port efficiency is positively correlated with the level of economic development, port-city relationship and transportation structure, as well as negatively correlated with the efficiency of neighboring ports. The findings have a far-reaching impact on the development of port construction.

Efficiency Analysis of the Coastal Port Group in the Yangtze River Delta

In recent years, the coastal ports of the Yangtze River Delta have rapidly developed with the progress of science and technology, which has caused some problems on account of the rapid development of ports. On the one hand, there is fierce competition within the same port group; on the other hand, many ports waste resources. This study selected the three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist index models to calculate and analyze the efficiency value of the coastal port group in the Yangtze River Delta; the study was conducted to make a reference for the formulation of the optimization strategy from the perspectives of static and dynamic efficiency. The results show that from the perspective of static efficiency, the comprehensive efficiency of the Yangtze River Delta coastal port cluster is at the upper-middle level. However, it has not yet reached the frontier surface, and the low scale efficiency is why the port group has not been called the frontier surface. From the perspective of dynamic efficiency, the total factor productivity of the Yangtze River Delta port group has increased by 3.6% in the past five years. Technological progress and comprehensive technical efficiency have improved. The optimization strategy was formulated according to the problems faced by the Yangtze River Delta port group and the reasons for not reaching the frontier.

Optimal scale and capacity integration in a port cluster under demand uncertainty

We address the problem of capacity integration in a port cluster under demand uncertainty, which involves determining the optimal capacity investment and exit decisions for the ports in a port cluster over multiple stages. Based on real option theory, we first investigate the optimal investment and exit decisions for a single incapacitated port without integration under uncertainty. Second, we present the optimal scale of a port cluster based on the continuous approximation-based approach in facility location theory, which offers an optimization objective for capacity integration in an existing port cluster. Third, we build a multistage capacity investment and exit (MCIEI) model to minimize the gap between the social welfare under an existing port cluster and the social welfare at the optimal scale of a port cluster. In addition, we present a dynamic programming-based pattern search algorithm (DP-GPS) to solve the proposed model. Finally, the optimal investment and exit decisions for a single port are derived from the case of Chinese seaports. The results indicate that when the potential maritime demand of the catchment area is above a threshold, the optimal investment capacity increases linearly in the potential maritime demand while the optimal exit capacity decreases linearly in the potential maritime demand. Furthermore, the MCIEI model and the corresponding DP-GPS algorithm are verified with respect to the Liaoning port cluster in mainland China. The numerical results illustrate that the Jinzhou and Dalian Ports should adopt exit decisions in the optimal capacity integration scheme, while the Yingkou and Dandong Ports should opt to invest. Our research outcomes can help guide port integration in port clusters and further establish resource-saving ports in coastal regions.

Comparative analysis of port efficiency in Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta: a meta Dynamic D.D.F. approach

The Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta are two regions with the highest level of economic development in China, and their port development is at the forefront of the country. This study measures the efficiency of 23 major ports in the two deltas from 2010 to 2018 using the meta Dynamic Directional Distance Function (D.D.F.) model and discusses the technology gap and the reasons for inefficiency of the ports. The research results show that 80% of the ports in these two deltas are inefficient. The Yangtze River Delta’s port efficiency is higher than that of the Pearl River Delta, but the internal efficiency difference of the Yangtze River Delta port cluster is more significant. The efficiency ranking of most ports is inconsistent under the meta-frontier (M.F.) and group frontier (G.F.), and the average technology gap ratio (T.G.R.) of ports in the Pearl River Delta gradually exceeds that in the Yangtze River Delta. The inefficiency of ports in the Pearl River Delta is caused by input factors, and the inefficiency of ports in the Yangtze River Delta is also related to the containerisation level.

PROPIEDADES DE RENDIMIENTO Y ANÁLISIS DE AGRUPACIÓN DE LOS PUERTOS COSTEROS DE CHINA CONTINENTAL: UN MÉTODO DE ANÁLISIS MEDIANTE UNA RED COMPLEJA DE SERIES TEMPORALES

Explicit development orientations of ports are critical to promoting port clusters from chaotic competitions to a hierarchical collaborative development. To investigate the development orientation and hierarchies of coastal ports in Mainland China, a visibility graph network was constructed in this study for a time series analysis of China's port throughputs from 2000 to 2020. In this model, the four throughput indexes of cargo, domestic trade cargo, foreign trade cargo, and container were used to measure the scale of ports. The topological structural features of the throughput network of ports, including its average degree, diameter, and average clustering coefficient, were calculated. The ports were then divided into four types based on their network characteristics. Results show that the throughput time series network of coastal ports in Mainland China has an obvious hierarchical structure and generally has the characteristics of small-world networks. These ports are closely connected and have a strong transshipment capacity. However, an "absolute center" does not exist in this network, and these ports are in a state of disorderly and chaotic competition with serious homogenization. The proposed model provides an appropriate method for the future planning and design of port clusters. Keywords: Port throughput, Throughput characteristics, Visibility graph, Time series complex networks, Clustering analysis

Vietnam's Maritime Shipping Ports: Using Data-Driven Model Analysis to Determine Connectivity and Networking

Hu, Z.-H.; Zheng, Y.-X., and Hu, J.-J., 2022. Vietnam's maritime shipping ports: Using data-driven model analysis to determine connectivity and networking. Journal of Coastal Research, 38(3), 639–653. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Vietnam is a typical coastal country bordering China, Laos, and Cambodia that possesses numerous seaborne transport facilities along the coast and two main river deltas (the Mekong River Delta and Red River Delta). Vietnam's ports and shipping flows were incorporated into a maritime network model. Vietnam's coast is on the Pacific Ocean, so the clustering method is a good way to formulate and investigate the maritime network. On the land side facing Laos and bordering China and Cambodia, Vietnam's maritime network can provide gateways for Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and even China. Based on a big-data port and shipping system, this study focuses on the interaction between Vietnam's inland and coastal networks and the impact of throughflow as a sea gateway for Laos to connect the world. This analysis includes network connectivity, port positions and evolution, maritime port clusters, and regional deltas using clustering methods. The relationship between the maritime networks and the economic zones of Vietnam and its neighbors was also included in the current study. In summary, Vietnam can coordinate and optimize its seaside and landside networks to contribute to its trade and globally extend its maritime network to serve itself and its region.

Coordinated Development Relationship between Port Cluster and Its Hinterland Economic System Based on Improved Coupling Coordination Degree Model: Empirical Study from China’s Port Integration

In recent years, the port integration in China has been carried out vigorously, and has basically covered all coastal provinces from south to north and some areas along the Yangtze River. In order to quantify the practical effects of the port integration, this paper conducts research investigating whether or not the port integration would be able to realize the coordinated development between the port cluster and its hinterland economic system more smoothly. This paper carries out the research by building the improved coupling coordination degree model for evaluating the coupling coordination degree between the port cluster and its hinterland economic system, and further by applying the improved model to the empirical analysis of three port clusters with different integration patterns. The empirical results reveal that: (1) the port integration may lead to a “Painful Period” for the coordinated development relationship between the port cluster and its hinterland economic system in the short term, especially at the beginning of the integration, and the coupling coordination degree of the whole system would fall into a drop temporally; (2) among different port clusters with different port integration purposes and patterns, there are evident differences in the change of the coupling coordination degree of the whole system at the beginning of the integration; and (3) in the long run, the port integration would be able to effectively improve the coupling coordination degree of the port cluster and its hinterland economic system, and thus the whole system can obtain a better relationship of coordinated development.

Optimization on the multi-period empty container repositioning problem in regional port cluster based upon inventory control strategies

Within the area of regional port clusters, this paper establishes a multi-period mixed integer programming model to optimize the empty container repositioning between public hinterlands and ports, comprehensively considering the quantitative and periodic inventory control strategy. At the same time, this paper dynamically and heuristically determines the empty container inventory threshold (D, U) under quantitative strategy and S under periodical strategy at each port within the regional port clusters. On this basis, the empty container repositioning schemes between public hinterlands and ports are optimized by using Markov decision process combined with dynamic programming method. In addition, Liaoning coastal regional port cluster and its northeast hinterland are selected as the objects to solve this model and the results show that the total cost of shipping company can be saved by 14.16% and 11.92%, respectively, by the quantitative and periodical inventory control strategy. Selecting the quantity of public hinterland terminals, the empty container demand of public hinterland terminals and ports, the inventory threshold of empty containers and other factors, this paper carries on the sensitivity analysis. This paper validates inventory control strategy can weaken the shipping company in the influence of the external environment changes. And the quantitative inventory control strategy can reduce the total cost value to a greater extent and more effective in cost control than periodical strategy.

The effectiveness of emission control policies in regulating air pollution over coastal ports of China: Spatiotemporal variations of NO2 and SO2

Air pollution over coastal port areas has become a major concern of today's world. As one of the largest shipping countries, China has issued a series of emission control policies to regulate air pollution in these areas. This study investigated the effectiveness of these policies by exploring the spatiotemporal variations of NO2 and SO2 in the five coastal port clusters i.e., Bohai Rim Area (BRA), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Pearl River Delta (PRD), Southeast Coast (SEC) and Southwest Coast (SWC) of China from 2005 to 2020 using tropospheric NO2 and planetary boundary layer SO2 Vertical Column Densities (VCDs) retrieved from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). The NO2 levels were found to be the highest around 2011, whereas the SO2 levels showed decreasing trends after 2007, with rebounds found around 2011. BRA exhibited the highest average air pollution level compared to the other port clusters. PRD has implemented emission control policies earlier than the other port clusters, whereas YRD and BRA have controlled the NO2 and SO2 levels more effectively during 2010–2020. SWC saw an increase in the NO2 level during 2015–2020. As for individual ports, air pollution in Guangzhou port has been controlled most effectively during the entire study period; Qinhuangdao, Tangshan, Tianjin, Lianyungang, Qingdao and Rizhao have made great strides in reducing air pollution during 2010–2020. However, Beibu Gulf and Haikou showed clear increases in NO2 levels during 2018–2020 which may be attributed to strong growth in cargo throughput. Findings from this study can potentially help different authorities evaluate their effectiveness of air pollution control actions and support their future decision making.

Spatio-temporal evolution of the container port system along the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road

ABSTRACT Research on the spatio-temporal evolution of the port system along the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) can reveal the development law of ports. This study adopts the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, rank-size law, and an improved spatial and temporal correlation to investigate the spatial distribution and spatio-temporal correlation characteristics of container ports along the MSR during 2000–2019. The results show that 1) the distribution trends among port clusters have significant differences, and the gravity centre of the port system gradually shifts from Europe to Asia (market shares of European and Asian ports decline from 28.15% to 19.83% and increase from 63.80% to 66.78%, respectively); 2) the port system undergoes periodic ‘decentralisation–agglomeration–decentralisation’, and its structure gradually develops a ‘spindle’ or ‘olive’ shape; 3) the initial effect of MSR arises on the economic development of ports, and the spatial occupation ability of small- and medium-sized port clusters increases steadily; and 4) the spatial and temporal correlation gradually increases. The evolution of temporal correlation is more complicated with a bifractal structure in 2000–2010. This study can provide decision support for port development and thus clarifies the investment environment and construction of MSR.

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT AND PORT GOVERNANCE

The main objective of the research was to prospect the state of the art in the management of innovation and port governance in order to identify models and practices in the different ports around the world, through the international scientific bases Web of Science and Scopus, which allowed the exploratory study. More specifically, we sought to raise the level of development in the field of scientific production in the areas of innovation management and port governance. Scientometric methods were applied to prepare graphs that reflect the treatment of data and information generated from selected publications, as well as the search in the patent database of the National Institute of Industrial Property – INPI. In general, a gap in scientific production related to the researched field of knowledge was evidenced, which may be associated with the low level of port innovations which, therefore, may also reverberate in the search for patent protection. Thus, it is recommended that scientific productions be encouraged to support innovations in the port sector, in addition to incremental innovations, playing a prominent role in the collaborative action of agents in the port cluster and scientific, technological and innovation institutions (ICTs).

Integrated Governance of the Yangtze River Delta Port Cluster Using Niche Theory: A Case Study of Shanghai Port and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port

Integrated Governance of the Yangtze River Delta Port Cluster Using Niche Theory: A Case Study of Shanghai Port and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port

Port Integration in the Yangtze River Delta Area: Practice and Policy Analysis

Port integration in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is studied in the paper from the practice and policy analysis in the case when port supply surpasses shipping demand. Firstly, combined with literature analysis method and comparative approach, the port integration practice in YRD is investigated from a holistic view of YRD, especially the provincial port integration in YRD -- larger-scale port integration is discussed, detailed analysis and comparison of each mode of port integration in YRD are made from the aspects of dominant power, territorial scope, realization path, and focus of integration, the result shows that the integration degree of Shanghai port is the highest but hard to be duplicated. Then, the current existing problems in the process of the port integration are collated and examined with qualitative methods, such as fragmented governance and lack of a strong regulatory structure, lack of long-term cooperation mechanism, insufficient implementation strength on port division of labor and positioning, weak soft power of the port cluster, abnormal development of collection and distribution system, low international cargo transshipment ratio restricts the development of Shanghai International Shipping Center (SISC), etc. Aiming to the problems, reasonable and feasible suggestions are proposed from the policy level for the reference of decision-makers, for instance, breaking the administrative barriers by establishing joint port authority, improving the mechanism for port cooperation, strengthening the rigor of planning, accelerating the SISC construction by adjusting cargo structure and enhancing soft power, improving the collection and distribution logistics network, improving FTZs and aligning national strategies to raise the international cargo transshipment ratio, etc.