Port Nodes Research Articles

A Novel Technical Framework for the Evaluation of Node Significance and Edge Connectivity in Global Shipping Network

Marine transportation is pivotal in the rapid development of global trade, significantly enhancing international economic and trade connectivity and impacting the sustainable development of the global economy. In this study, we developed a novel technical framework based on the Laplacian matrix to evaluate the node significance and edge connectivity of the global shipping network using 2019 vessel schedule data from the top 30 liner shipping companies, as ranked by Alphaliner. Our analyses were conducted in both L-space, characterizing the connectivity function, and P-space, characterizing the transfer function. The findings indicate the following. (1) There is no consistent relationship between node significance and centrality for most ports. Ports with high node significance are mainly located in the Asia–Pacific region, with Singapore Port being the port with the highest node significance in L-space and Shanghai Port being the port with the highest node significance in P-space. (2) In L-space, the structures with significant improvements in edge connectivity in the shipping network have at least one port node that exhibits both low degree centrality and low betweenness centrality; these are primarily found on East African routes. (3) In P-space, the structures with significant improvements in edge connectivity in the shipping network are more complex but are notably linked to the ports of Assaluyeh and Bandar Abbas in Iran. The proposed node evaluation and edge addition strategy effectively analyze port significance and edge connectivity, providing decision-making support for optimizing port layouts, supporting container route planning, and enhancing the overall performance of the shipping network.

Assessing the impact of Arctic shipping routes on the global container shipping network’s connectivity

ABSTRACT Amidst the intensifying impact of climate change, the extension of navigable periods along Arctic Shipping Routes (ASRs) has garnered attention as a maritime route for container vessels. The urgency to comprehend the reverberations of ASRs on the global container shipping network (GCSN) led to the development of the Latitudinal Centrality Index (LCI), which integrates latitude and centrality in maritime analysis. This index evaluates ASRs’ influence across 968 port nodes within the GCSN. By exploring scenarios encompassing seasonal fluctuations over the years, this study delves into the sway of ASRs compared to a benchmark state devoid of ASR engagement. The study’s revelations highlight a discovery: the assimilation of ASRs augments interconnectivity, or resilience, within the GCSN. The GCSN thrives as a cohesive and adaptable entity upon full integration of ASRs, indicating a promising trajectory for global container shipping.

Analysis of the Network Efficiency of Chinese Ports in Global Shipping under the Impacts of Typhoons

With the increasing volume of international trade and maritime demand, the requirements for the stability and reliability of the global shipping system are also increasing. The research on the network efficiency of Chinese ports for global shipping can not only examine the importance of Chinese ports in the shipping network but also find out the aspects that need to be improved in the construction of the port’s climate adaptability in the resilience assessment to strengthen port construction and further improve the efficiency of the network. The current study builds a shipping network based on RCEP and systematically examines the key ports in China within the networks. The research paper aims to improve the resilience of the ports and the whole shipping network in response to typhoon disasters. As such, this paper focuses on shipping research based on complex networks and network multi-centricity analysis, followed by a ranking of ports. Firstly, this paper uses UCINET 6 software to build a global shipping network. Such a network evaluates the centrality of ports, calculates the degree of centrality, proximity to centrality, and centrality, and scores them according to the ranking. Then, it selects the top 20 ports in China according to the ranking and researches network efficiency for the listed ports considering the typhoon risks. The analysis of network robustness, average shortest path length, and network efficiency are carried out for the shipping network and China’s essential port nodes in the network. According to the experimental results, no matter the robustness, average shortest path length, or network efficiency, when the important ports of China in the shipping network are affected, they will cause different degrees of impact, and the performance loss caused by multiple ports is higher than that of a single port. They emphasise the significant impact of typhoons on multiple ports and remind people to minimise losses as much as possible based on experimental results, ensuring the stable operation of ports and improving resilience in typhoon prevention under the changing climate. Additionally, they provide a solid foundation to further sustain global shipping network resilience.

Analysis of lashing gear in ship loading spaces to meet safety transportation

Merak and Bakauheni Ferry Ports are two port nodes for the Merak - Bakauheni Ferry Crossing. Both are the main bridges connecting Java Island and Sumatra Island. This research aims to analyze the implementation of the obligation to tie vehicles (lashing gear) in the loading space of ships on the Merak - Bakauheni crossing. The expected aim of this study is to determine the suitability of the implementation of the two ministerial regulations. The analysis utilizes three methods: (1) the analysis of the transportation of vehicles on board, (2) the analysis of the distance between vehicles, and (3) the analysis of vehicle tie-up officers. The results of this study state that the loading of vehicles on the crossing on the Merak - Bakauheni track is still not in accordance with the loading procedures regulated in the Minister of Transportation Regulation Number 115 of 2016 because there are still rules that are not implemented during the process of transporting vehicles on board There are still several lashing officers at the Merak-Bakauheni port who do not have sufficient knowledge and experience regarding technical regulations and lashing gear procedures. Therefore, it is deemed necessary to conduct regular training or socialization sessions.

An Emergency Port Decision-Making Method for Maritime Accidents in Arctic Waters

The complex and variable hydro-meteorological conditions in Arctic waters and scattered and limited port infrastructures pose a great threat and challenge to Arctic emergency search and rescue. It is crucial to determine an available and effective emergency port for rescue in the event of a maritime accident occurring in Arctic waters. In the present study, a directed-weighted emergency port network consisting of maritime accident nodes and port nodes for maritime accident-prone areas in Arctic waters is developed based on complex network theory. For this, the maritime accident nodes are identified by using a K-means clustering algorithm based on historical accident data; the port nodes are determined by screening of the port location and scale; the weights for edges between accident nodes and port nodes are characterized in terms of ERT (emergency rescue time) and PEC (port emergency capacity), and the PECs for different emergency ports along Arctic waters are acquired by entropy-weighted TOPSIS. With the developed emergency port network, the topological properties associated with the accident nodes, port nodes, and the edge weights between accident nodes and port nodes are analyzed. What is more, the emergency ports for each maritime accident point occurring in Arctic waters are obtained and ranked.

Resilience characteristics of port nodes from the perspective of shipping network: Empirical evidence from China

Ports are both the start and end points of shipping, they are connected by shipping routes, thereby forming a port shipping network that connects global industries and supply chains. Each port node has specific functions within the network, while its capacity to resist interference differs from that of other ports; consequently, when encountering external shocks, ports are not affected equally. Therefore, this paper proposes the concept of port node resilience from the perspective of the shipping network. This is achieved by analyzing the literature on regional, urban, and network resilience. Thereafter, by fully considering the complexity of port nodes' linkages, as well as their attributes vis-à-vis the shipping network, a three-dimensional (structure, function, and location) econometric model of port-node resilience is constructed. By examining data from China's container ports for the years 2008 and 2018, this study analyzes port nodes' resilience characteristics and the differences in space. The results indicate that the studied port nodes' resilience index presents the characteristic of clustering. Further, the average resilience index increased from 0.25 (low) to 0.43 (medium). The differences in port nodes' regional resilience narrowed, while their absorption and transformation capacity improved when facing external interference.

Resilience Analysis of Container Port Shipping Network Structure: The Case of China

The increased port outages caused by events such as war and public health emergencies have motivated the study of container port shipping network (CPSN) resilience. This paper proposes a resilience framework, which includes prevention, resistance, restoration, adaption, and optimization. The framework is used to analyze the resilience of the CPSN by detecting changing performance of the network indicators before and after the random attack or one of the deliberate attacks. The indicators include the network resilience index, degree distribution, independent path, cluster coefficient, network efficiency and connectivity. The comparative analysis is based on the statistics of China’s cases in 2005 and 2017. The results indicate that, first, the resilience of the structure of China’s container port shipping network (CCPSN) in 2017 has improved when comparing the 2015 situation. Second, the performance of indicators under betweenness attack (BA) decreases faster than other attacks; the resilience index of deliberate attacks is poorer, when compared with the random attack (RA). Third, network resilience can be improved by protecting and adding hub port nodes. Priority should be given to restoring the hub port nodes during the recovery process. The same network indicator recovers similarly after facing different attacks, while different indicator shows various recovery process. Thus, it is necessary to consider the different recovery performances of network indicators when the damaged CPSN selects recovery mode.

Resilience Analysis of Maritime Silk Road Shipping Network Structure under Disruption Simulation

As an important hub in the maritime transportation system, ports are vulnerable to events such as terrorist attacks, security accidents and bad weather. The failure of port nodes to function effectively affects the connectivity and efficiency of the shipping network and impedes trade between countries. In view of this, in this paper, we constructed the Maritime Silk Road shipping network based on route data and used transmissibility and diversity to represent the resilience of the network and nodes. Then, we analyzed the variation characteristics of resilience using disruption simulation and identified 9 dominant nodes and 15 vulnerable nodes that could help to accurately determine the factors that affect the resilience of the MSR shipping network structure. The results show that the Maritime Silk Road shipping network structure is vulnerable, and the failure of ports to function has different effects on network transmissibility and diversity. In terms of node transmissibility and diversity, there are differences in the resistance of port nodes to interventions. In addition, the failure of dominant ports to function and the emergence of vulnerable ports are significant factors that weaken the resilience of the network structure. When dominant ports are interrupted, this greatly affects the resilience of the network structure. It is necessary to reduce the possibilities of the failure of dominant ports. Vulnerable ports are weaknesses in the resilience of the network structure, which weaken the ability of the network to function. The centrality of these ports should be strengthened, and their relation to regional and trans-regional links should be enriched. The research results provide a scientific basis for ensuring the structural resilience of the Maritime Silk Road shipping network.

The small world of global marine crude oil trade based on crude oil tanker flows

Global marine crude oil trade is a direct reflection of global economic trends. This study uses the real-world historical ship automatic identification system (AIS) data from 2014 to 2017 to explore the flows of crude oil tanker trade between ports and construct a port-node global crude oil trade model. An analysis framework of “AIS data -> crude oil tanker trade flows -> port-node crude oil trade network -> port-node crude oil trade backbone network” is proposed to realize the progressive analysis of global marine crude oil trade. The global port-node crude oil trade network is a small world, in which there are multiple small world port-node trade communities. Compared with the community structure of the global port-node crude oil trade in previous years, the Middle East–Southern Africa–South Asia–Oceania–Asia Pacific community and the Southern Africa–China community have more activities in port nodes and trade links in 2017, which reflects that the Asia-Pacific region, especially East Asian countries, is making efforts to expand the Oceania and African markets and increase the diversity of crude oil import sources to ensure the security of crude oil supply and demand.

Potential spatial effects of opening Arctic shipping routes on the shipping network of ports between China and Europe

More recently, the accelerated melting of sea ice and the trial operation of container liners in the Arctic have accelerated the opening of Arctic shipping routes(ASR), while providing a realistic possibility for the regular operation of an Arctic route. The normalised operation of the ASR will invariably have important effects on traditional transport routes, reshaping the global marine shipping geography and promoting the geopolitical and economic pattern evolution of the Northern Hemisphere countries based on shipping accessibility. Utilising the shipping data of China and Europe in the context of ‘One Belt, One Road’, this study establishes a shipping network with the normal operation of the ASR through a scenario simulation based on the theory of complex networks and explores the changes in the shipping connection pattern and network structure characteristics with traditional and Arctic shipping lanes. Further, it analyses the changes in the port nodes in terms of connection breadth and depth, as well as the resulting changes in network accessibility, and provides comparisons and analyses of the changes in network characteristics between scenarios to measure the shipping network vulnerability and degree of change. The results show that under the ASR, the trend of "big loose, small concentrated" maritime links is obvious and shows the typical "core-periphery" structure; the Suez Canal is gradually losing its core position in the network under the impact of the ASR, the accessibility of Chinese ports is changing more sharply than that of European ports, and the polarisation process of the Murmansk port is accelerating and the network is more stable and robust. The Suez Canal is losing its core position under the impact of the ASR, the accessibility of Chinese ports is changing more sharply than that of European ports, the polarisation of the Murmansk port is accelerating and the stability and robustness of the network is stronger.

Los puertos del Pacífico mexicano en el contexto de la red global de transporte multimodal

Since the starting of the process of commercial opening, initiated in the last decades of the 20th century, ports gradually modified their functions and forms of modal, logistic and territorial articulation to respond to the imperatives of geographical reach and efficiency demanded by increasingly globalized productive chains. In this sense, this work analyzes the position and the role of the container ports at the Mexican Pacific in the context of the formation of a global multimodal transport network that conditions and determines their destination. From a conceptual perspective based on the space of Castellian flows and the territory of Veltz’ networks, it is evaluated the possibility of consolidating concentrating ports at the Mexican Pacific which articulate flows not only to and from Mexico, but also those that have their origin or destination at other countries in the region, thus promoting its relevance as key port nodes connecting multimodal transport chains at national and continental levels.

Evolutionary dynamics of competition among ports in networks

The competitive relationships among ports become complicated as the consequence of the prosperity of international trade. Typical oligopoly competition models cannot be competent for the analysis of ports competition in real scenario. In this paper, the scale-free network is adopted to characterize the interactions among ports with various number of neighbors. For each port node, not only direct competition but also indirect influences exerted by its neighbor are taken into account. Following the hypothesis in evolutionary game theory, social learning behavior among competitors occurs generally in our model. Conforming to reality, strategies considering both price collusion and price competition are proposed to investigate evolutionary dynamics of competition among ports in the self-organization process of imitation. It shows that neighbors have the same goal but play different roles in affecting strategy transition during the evolution with two competitive means. We explore how evolutionary dynamics are influenced by different imitation means. Then this paper verifies that price collusion is more conducive to port development when abundant resources is provided. Our results obtained in this evolutionary framework with different imitation means may enhance port-operation efficiency.

Time Reliability of the Maritime Transportation Network for China’s Crude Oil Imports

To evaluate the transportation time reliability of the maritime transportation network for China’s crude oil imports under node capacity variations resulting from extreme events, a framework incorporating bi-level programming and a Monte Carlo simulation is proposed in this paper. Under this framework, the imported crude oil volume from each source country is considered to be a decision variable, and may change in correspondence to node capacity variations. The evaluation results illustrate that when strait or canal nodes were subject to capacity variations, the network transportation time reliability was relatively low. Conversely, the transportation time reliability was relatively high when port nodes were under capacity variations. In addition, the Taiwan Strait, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Strait of Malacca were identified as vulnerable nodes according to the transportation time reliability results. These results can assist government decision-makers and tanker company strategic planners to better plan crude oil import and transportation strategies.

Port multi-service congestion

Port multi-service congestion occurs when port users of two or more different services (i.e., multi-services) provided at the same port node or over the same port link interfere with one another to the extent that they experience service congestion at the shared node or over the shared link. Container port nodes shared in the provision of port multi-services include, for example, the berth and yard. Container port links shared in the provision of port multi-services include, for example, the yard-to-departure-gate link, entrance-gate-to-yard link, berth-to-yard link and yard-to-berth link. If port multi-service congestion exists at a port node (or over a port link), then port multi-service congestion can be propagated to other port nodes and links in the port as long as there is a connecting path.

Time Analysis of the Containerized Cargo Flow in the Logistic Chain Using Simulation Tools: The Case of the Port of Seville (Spain)

The logistic chain that connects the capital of Spain (Madrid) with the Canary Islands has the Port of Seville as the port node. This port node makes possible to switch from one transport mode (railway) to another (maritime) at the container terminal of the port. Some constraints, such as the operational time window that restricts the freight train access into the port in a certain time-slot or the need of the reversal of the train before entering into port, lead to generate important time delays in the intermodal chain. A time analysis of the process is necessary in order to check the critical points. A simulation of the whole process from the goods departing the origin station by train until they leave the port of Seville by ship to the Canary Islands is performed. To this aim, a queuing model network was developed in order to simulate the travel time of the cargo. The database is composed of daily departures of goods train and daily departures of vessels (including times of docking, berthing or load/unload cargo). The final objective of this work is twofold: firstly, to provide a validated model of the containerized cargo flow and secondly, to demonstrate that this kind of queuing models can become a powerful supporting tool in making decisions about future investments.

A service flow model for the liner shipping network design problem

Global liner shipping is a competitive industry, requiring liner carriers to carefully deploy their vessels efficiently to construct a cost competitive network. This paper presents a novel compact formulation of the liner shipping network design problem (LSNDP) based on service flows. The formulation alleviates issues faced by arc flow formulations with regards to handling multiple calls to the same port. A problem which has not been fully dealt with earlier by LSNDP formulations. Multiple calls are handled by introducing service nodes, together with port nodes in a graph representation of the problem, and by introducing numbered arcs between a port and a novel service node. An arc from a port node to a service node indicate whether a service is calling the port or not. This representation allows recurrent calls of a service to a port, which previously could not be handled by LSNDP models. The model ensures strictly weekly frequencies of services, ensures that port-vessel draft capabilities are not violated, respects vessel capacities and the number of vessels available. The profit of the generated network is maximized, i.e. the revenue of flowed cargo subtracted operational costs of the network and a penalty for not flowed cargo. The model can be used to design liner shipping networks to utilize a container carrier’s assets efficiently and to investigate possible scenarios of changed market conditions. The model is solved as a Mixed Integer Program. Results are presented for the two smallest instances of the benchmark suite LINER-LIB-2012 presented in Brouer, Alvarez, Plum, Pisinger, and Sigurd (2013).

Investigating the Feasibility of Fast Sea Transport Services

Each sea route is different and will demand a different solution to ensure customer acceptance, commercial viability, effective integration, and compliance with regulatory requirements. In seeking to investigate the feasibility of any fast ship route, a holistic appraisal must therefore encompass a range of disciplines including economics, ship design, integration, and regulation. Ultimately, the challenge for the designer, builder and operator is to ensure the entire system functions in such a way as to offer best prospects for sustainable competitive advantage. Economic analysis, including assessment of market demand, is a vital part of the overall equation, but this must be undertaken in unison with other analyses. Port selection and node related factors (ie integration) are critical in this regard, as the ports determine the route as well as provide an interchange. It is not necessarily the case that traditional ports used by conventional vessels on a given route are the same ports that should be used by successor fast craft. Indeed, this may in practice render the fast service uneconomic. New kinds of services may therefore require new routes to be developed, with new ports of call, and this needs new ways of thinking. The overall quality of an ‘interchange’ must also fully match the quality of the vessels employed, ensuring excellent integration, especially vis-a-vis turnaround time, through ticketing, and customer expectations. An absence of consensus in terms of ship design means there are many options to choose from and a key challenge for both operator and designer, in relation to the route and service in question, is to get the design right first time. This is best achieved through a detailed evaluation of alternative options, taking account of user needs, of competitive services, and operational and regulatory demands. Regulations continue to change as new situations arise and this poses added challenges. Vessel design and operation has to take account of and, where possible, anticipate changing regulations, while minimising the adverse impacts such changes may have over route economics.