Shenzhen Port Research Articles

A Study on Competitiveness Analysis of Ports in Korea and China by Entropy Weight TOPSIS

ABSTRACT This study aims to (1) to investigate what are the main factors for evaluation of port competitiveness through an analysis of previous literature review; (2) to compare port competitiveness among a sample of ports in Korea and China using TOPSIS; (3) to determine ways to improve port competitiveness in Korea and particularly for Busan port. After selecting the related criteria on port competitiveness for the analysis, the main relevant criteria are divided into three major categories: port throughput, physical and financial criteria in Korean and Chinese ports. The empirical results indicate that Shanghai, Shenzhen and Busan port are the first three competitive ports. Shanghai port ranked near the top port in this analysis, it ranked fist port in port throughput and port financial category (ranked third port in port physical category), Shenzhen port ranked second port in port physical and port financial category (ranked third port in port throughput category), Busan port ranked first port in port physical category, and Ningbo port ranked third port in port throughput and port financial category in this analysis. The finding to the study suggests that the port competitiveness ranking is similar to the current throughput ranking to the main container ports taken into account in the sample.

Vessel traffic safety in busy waterways: A case study of accidents in western shenzhen port

Throughout the world, busy waterways near large ports witness heavy vessel traffic in recent decades. The waterways are characterized by high risk in terms of loss of life, property, and pollution to environment. To facilitate maritime safety management with satisfactory efficiency and efficacy, the authors propose a framework of safety indexes to evaluate the risk level in busy waterways according to the accident severity, fatality rate and special indicators of maritime transportation. The safety indexes consist of Safety Evaluation Index (SEI) and Safety Warning Index (SWI), and are derived from the proposed risk criteria of Chinese vessel traffic. As a case study, data on vessel traffic accidents reported in the Western Shenzhen Port, South China from 1995 to 2015 are analyzed. The actual risk level of this area during the period is calculated under the framework. The implementation of the safety indexes indicate that the risk criteria and safety indexes are practicable and effective for the vessel traffic management. The methodology based on long-term accident data can significantly support the risk analysis in the macroscopic perspective for busy ports and waterways, such that SWI can act as threshold to trigger actions, while SEI can act as an indicator to measure safety status.

Genetic and biological characterization of Zika virus from human cases imported through Shenzhen Port

During February to March 2016, a total of 13 Zika virus (ZIKV) cases were imported into China by travelers. Infection with ZIKV in humans results in fever, rash and has been associated with microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome. ZIKV is a mosquito-borne flavivirus and Aedes mosquitoes are the main transmission vector species. Since Aede s are prevalent throughout China, ZIKV has the potential to become widely disseminated if not properly controlled. The genetic and biological characteristics of ZIKV should be thoroughly studied in order to enact effective countermeasures. A novel ZIKV strain (SZ_SMGC-1) was successfully isolated from the sera of an imported case returning to China from Fiji and Samoa at the Shenzhen Port. The entire viral genome was sequenced and compared to whole ZIKV genomes downloaded from GenBank. Results showed that SZ_SMGC-1 possesses the highest nucleotide identity (99.9%) to ZIKV from Fiji and Samoa, and also has high nucleotide identity (99.0%–99.4%) to ZIKV from Venezuela. Additionally, ZIKV is know to have evolved into distinct Asian and African lineages, and our phylogenetic analyses showed that the ZIKVs isolated from all imported cases into China clustered into the Asian lineage. To study the biological characteristics of ZIKV, SZ_SMGC-1 was used to infect different cell lines including the mosquito- derived C6/36, monkey-derived Vero and hamster-derived BHK-21 cells. Infection with SZ_SMGC-1 in vitro resulted in considerable cytopathic effects (CPE) to mammalian cells and supported replication of the virus to high titers, but did not cause readily observable CPE in C6/36 cells despite virus replication to comparable titers with mammalian cell lines. Interestingly, two clones of Vero and BHK-21 cell lines were used in the present study, respectively, but ZIKV SZ_SMGC-1 replicated much quicker to high virus titers in one clone than the other. Furthermore, there are no effective vaccine or drug for ZIKV until now. The results of the genetic and biological characteristics and the sensitive cell lines form the basis for further investigation into the pathogenesis and development of an effective medical countermeasure against ZIKV.

Estimating economic losses of industry clusters due to port disruptions

Seaport operations are highly important for industries which rely heavily on imports and exports. A reliable evaluation of port risks is essential to govern the normal running of seaborne transportation and thus the industrial economies. The occurrence of a breakdown in the trade facilitators, such as ports, will disrupt the smooth flow of supply chains for the industries. The estimation of the economic loss for an industry when a port gets disrupted is a challenging task as the relationship between the port and industry clusters is complex. This study aims to develop a systematic framework for performing economic loss estimation of industry clusters due to port disruptions. The whole risk assessment is split into three stages focusing on the establishment of a network flow model, economic estimations and evaluating risk mitigation strategies. The proposed idea is demonstrated by a case study on Shenzhen port and its related manufacturing industries. A dynamic inventory control strategy used by manufacturers is found to be beneficial for mitigating port disruption risks.

Developing the port hinterland: Different perspectives and their application to Shenzhen Port, China

The management and expansion of the port hinterland is at the core of ensuring the competitiveness of modern ports. Considering the impact of the global supply chain and regional economy development, this study proposes different perspectives to analyse the development of the port hinterland, and applies these perspectives to Shenzhen Port in China. In accordance with the changing nature of a port's function, we view hinterland development from physical, logistics, and macroeconomic perspectives, and analyse the influencing factors from the shippers' viewpoint in terms of three driving forces: spatial, value, and organizational. We find that the influence of these driving forces and their relevant strategies differ from these three perspectives. For Shenzhen Port to develop its hinterland sustainably, its geographical boundaries should be extended in both directions (i.e. inland-bound and foreland-bound), and the structure of container throughput needs to be optimized. Some relevant strategies in this regard are proposed.

Surveillance of mosquito-borne infectious diseases in febrile travelers entering China via Shenzhen ports, China, 2013.

About 100 million passengers enter China via Shenzhen ports every year and such huge populations increase the risk of various infectious diseases, particularly mosquito-borne diseases, entering China. This paper reports the testing and monitoring of mosquito-borne diseases in febrile travelers through Shenzhen ports in 2013. The blood samples of 619 febrile cases were collected and the serum of each sample was used for the specific gene amplification and IgM antibody detection of five typical mosquito-borne pathogens: Dengue virus (DENV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), yellow fever virus (YFV), and West Nile Virus (WNV). Additionally, malaria was diagnosed by rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). In total, 34 cases were detected of DENV infection (serotype I to IV), 17 cases of JEV infection, 2 cases of CHIKV infection, and 3 cases of malaria infection. No virus genes or IgM antibodies of YFV or WNV were detected in the samples. DENV, JEV and CHIKV cases were mainly from Southeast Asia, while malaria cases from Africa. DENV, JEV and CHIKV were the primary pathogens imported via Shenzhen ports. International travelers with mosquito-borne infections would accelerate the spread of these diseases, thus reinforcing the need for surveillance of mosquito-borne infections at ports should become a high priority.

Regional Transformation and Port Cluster Competition: The Case of the Pearl River Delta in South China

AbstractWith substantial increases in labor and operational costs in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), many firms in China have started to relocate their production plants to inland provinces. This change will not only affect the PRD ports, including Hong Kong and Shenzhen, but also ports in other regions, such as Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta. However, systematic studies on regional transformation and port cluster competition have been found wanting. This paper undertakes an economic analysis on the implications of such a relocation process. Important features such as demand differentiation among ports and port clusters, hinterland access costs, intra‐ and inter‐port cluster competition are considered in the economic model, and this allows us to identify market equilibrium and the effects of possible market dynamics related to the relocation process. Our analysis suggests that relocation of production plants away from the PRD would pose negative effects on ports within the region, and may favor other ports with more convenient hinterland access. Improvements in hinterland access would likely to benefit the port of Hong Kong, but it would be a mixed blessing to Shenzhen due to inter‐port competition. A more competitive port of Hong Kong would certainly be in a better position to cooperate with port of Shenzhen.

Estimating the economic losses of port disruption due to extreme wind events

The operation of a seaport is highly dependent on the ocean climate, where a necessary consideration of the later is essential to govern the normal running of the seaborne transportation. To estimate the port risks associated with the climate factors is a challenging task. Not only because of the complexity in the weather, but also the variations in the daily trade volume. This paper develops an approach of estimating the economic losses of port disruptions induced by extreme wind events, and conducts a study for two selected ports, Ningbo and Shanghai. The loss considers both the variation in the daily cargo throughput and the climate. The throughput is analyzed in a regression analysis which accounts for both the long term trend and yearly cyclic components. The likelihood of port disruptions is estimated from a climate analysis based on the historic record at both ports. The calculation of the total economic loss is split into four parts, namely, reputational loss, loss to the shippers, loss to the carriers and loss to the ports. The results are illustrated in a comparison between Shanghai and Ningbo to provide the information of associated risks within different months. The study is also extended to investigate the influence of extreme wind events on the port of Shenzhen which is located in a different geographical region for comparison. The impact of the extreme wind events on the ports and the economy is then discussed.

Co-Opetition Between the Ports in Hong Kong and Shenzhen from the Users' Perspective

This study investigates empirically the current level of competitiveness and the major areas for possible collaboration between two adjacent ports in China – Hong Kong port and Shenzhen port, both are among the top ten busiest container ports in the world – from the perspective of their users – freight forwarders and shipping lines. A self-administered questionnaire survey with measurement in Likert scale was used to collect the required data from the users for comparison. Wilcoxon signed rank tests for single and paired samples were used to analyze the data. Results of the analysis show that Hong Kong port excels in facilities, services, and management while Shenzhen port surpasses in location and costs. The respective advantages are related to the historical development of the two ports and their geographical locations with respect to the common hinterland – the Pearl River Delta region. Ways to enhance collaboration between the two ports include, among others, information sharing to improve visibility, road network and other infrastructure investment to strengthen linkage, and joint venture to develop port-centric logistics. The findings shed light on the relative significance of the factors affecting the choice of ports of freight forwarding and shipping companies and provide an objective empirical basis for comparing the competitiveness between ports. The results can help the two ports in question reposition themselves to leverage further their respective competencies as advocated in the resource-based view theory. Major areas identified for possible collaboration between the two ports to achieve mutual benefits as promoted in the network theory also help strengthen the overall competitiveness of the port network in the long run.

Application of Game Theory and Uncertainty Theory in Port Competition between Hong Kong Port and Shenzhen Port

This paper unveils the strong competition in container cargo between Hong Kong Port which has been emerging as an international maritime center since the 1970s and Shenzhen Port which has recently gained remarkable achievements in the Pearl River Delta region. Among various competing strategies, the study focuses on the long-term one in which two ports will decide to compete by investing in capacity. The purpose of this research is to examine their decision making process and to suggest future strategic actions in the current situation. Within its scope, only economic profit brought back from the investment is considered. For this reason, an uncertain payoff two-person game model is developed where an uncertain factor of demand is involved. In applying Uncertainty theory (Liu, 2013), the two methods to solve the game are introduced, including uncertain statistics and the expected Nash Equilibrium strategy. The results obtained from this research generate meaningful suggestions for future competition plan for the two selected ports, which conclude that Shenzhen is the dominant port in this long-term strategy. Compared to existing works on the same topic, the paper shows its distinctiveness by studying the latest competitive situation with regard to the uncertain demand in the game model.

Evolving competition between Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports

Shenzhen Port (SZP), once a negligible local port, has risen dramatically to a world-leading container port and an “equal” player with Hong Kong Port (HKP). Will this market share reallocation continue, or will equilibrium be eventually realized for HKP to prosper continuously? We examine the relationship between these two ports to answer this question. We propose a new transformation method to describe the growth of container cargo transport demand, define the quantitative measures of the competition relationship and port competitiveness, and present a rigorous analytical framework with econometric tests and models to understand the true relationship between HKP and SZP. Direct empirical tests suggest that SZP complements HKP; however, the two ports exhibit strong competition when the effect of demand growth is excluded. Considering transshipment separately, we find that the impact of SZP on HKP is negative in transshipment but complementary in direct shipment. We may conclude that HKP does not affect SZP, whereas SZP has competitive power over HKP. These results are consistent with the findings of some previous theoretical studies.

A Dataflow Perspective for Business Process Integration

Business process integration has become prevalent as business increasingly crosses organizational boundaries. To address the issue of protecting organizations’ competitive knowledge and private information while also enabling business-to-business (B2B) collaboration, past research has focused mainly on customized public and private process design, as well as structural correctness of the integrated workflow. However, a dataflow perspective is important for business process integration. This article presents a data-flow perspective using workflow management and mathematical techniques to address data exchange problems in independent multistakeholder business process integration in dynamic circumstances. The research is conducted following a design science paradigm. We build artifacts that include interorganizational workflow concepts, a workflow model, and a public dataset calculation method. The use of the proposed artifacts is illustrated by applying them to a real-world case in the Shenzhen (Chaiwan) port. The utility of the artifacts is evaluated through interviews with practitioners in industry. We conclude that this research complements the control-flow perspective in the interorganizational workflow management area and also contributes to B2B information-sharing literature; further, the dataflow formalism can help practitioners to formally provide the right data at the right time in dynamic circumstances.

Time Series Forecasting Using a Hybrid Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization and Neural Network Model

AbstractFor time series forecasting, the problem that we often encounter is how to increase the prediction accuracy as much as possible with the irregular and noise data. This study proposes a novel multilayer feedforward neural network based on the improved particle swarm optimization with adaptive genetic operator (IPSO- MLFN). In the proposed IPSO, inertia weight is dynamically adjusted according to the feedback from particles’ best memories, and acceleration coefficients are controlled by a declining arccosine and an increasing arccosine function. Further, a crossover rate which only depends on generation and does not associate with the individual fitness is designed. Finally, the parameters of MLFN are optimized by IPSO. The empirical results on the container throughput forecast of Shenzhen Port show that forecasts with IPSO-MLFN model are more conservative and credible.

Stakeholder management for establishing sustainable regional port governance

In the era of intense competition and integration of multimodal supply chains, it is increasingly important to implement port governance and planning at port cluster levels. Due to its larger scope than the case of an individual port, regional port governance involves a higher number of stakeholders including policymakers at various levels, market players and community groups. Accordingly, stakeholder management becomes more complicated. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) in South China is a major port region with Hong Kong and Shenzhen being its largest ports. In view of Hong Kong's gradual integration within China's national and regional planning, there is an increasing need for cooperation among the ports in the PRD region, in order to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. This study aims to analyze the major conflicts and mutual benefits encountered by Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports and thereby formulate strategies for stakeholder management from the governmental perspective in establishing sustainable regional port governance. To establish a mega maritime and port cluster, we recommend forming an official inter-city governmental office to be in charge of port cooperation at the regional level so as to provide soft leadership for this purpose.

Peripheral challenge in container port system: A case study of Pearl River Delta

The growth of peripheral ports to dominant hubs has been well documented in North America and Europe, and has led to the elaboration of several theoretical models. However, although changes in containerization growth have been taking place in the South and East Asia in recent years, particularly in China, only a few studies have focused on this region. The Pearl (Zhujiang) River Delta (PRD) has a typical port system with hub and peripheral ports, and provides an excellent case for studying the Peripheral Challenge. This paper introduces the theoretical evidence of the Hayuth model and analyzes the evolution of the container port system in the PRD with five phases: 1) phase I: preconditions for change and phase II: initial container port development in the 1970s and early 1980s; 2) phase III: diffusion, consolidation, and port concentration in the middle and late 1980s; 3) phase IV: the load center in the 1990s; and (4) phase V: the Peripheral Challenge since the late 1990s. The results illustrate that the Shenzhen port presents mounting challenges to the Hong Kong port, descending from a transshipment hub of China to a regional load center of Southeast China. Furthermore, this paper explores five points that have led to the evolution of the port system in the PRD: 1) competition in the regional port systems; 2) different interested parties; 3) shift of investment strategies of international terminal operators; 4) integration of shipping networks and reorganization of carriers; and 5) cost-based competition.

Post-entry container port capacity expansion

Port capacity development is a critical strategy for the growth of a new port, as well as for the development of existing ones, when both new and existing ports serve the same hinterland but have different competitive conditions. To study this strategy, we develop a two-stage duopoly model that comprises the pricing and capacity decisions of two heterogeneous players serving an increasing market. We identify the necessary condition for a port to increase its profit through capacity expansion, and characterize the condition when preemptive pricing by the dominant player is neither credible nor effective in preventing the smaller player from gaining market share. We also find the pure-strategy Nash equilibrium in the capacity expansion game for two ports that have different price sensitivities, as well as different operation and capacity investment costs. We apply the model results to the container port competition between Hong Kong and Shenzhen after Shenzhen port started its container operation in 1991. Our analysis explains the transition of market power from monopoly to duopoly, the fast development of Shenzhen Port, and the possible market structure changes with the continuing increase in demand.

The strategy of Busan Port for Northeast Asia hub port

With the center of the world economy moving to Northeast Asia, areas including China, Northeast Asia areas are witnessing dynamic economic activities taking place together with the revitalization of exchanges. Accordingly, the logistics network and infrastructure are being expanded with the increase in demand for international logistics, and each country is going all out for developing their country into a logistics hub. Korea has also been promoting its own strategy for becoming a logistics hub in Northeast Asia areas centering on Busan Port, since the mid-1990s. Expansion of harbor logistics facilities centering on Shanghai Port and Shenzhen Port led by China, and promotion of the plan for super hub ports through the choice and concentration led by Japan are creating keen competition among the region. There is a limit to the competitive strength of a port, only through the external growth relying on simply the increase in port traffic; rather, it is necessary to create employment and added value by forming an organic network with its adjacent port distripark and back industrial complex and then by attracting global corporations into the port. The purpose of this study is to contribute Busan port to become a logistics hub of Northeast Asia. Key words: Busan hub port, port competition, Northeast Asia, co-opetition, international shipping network.

The Impact of the Financial Tsunami on Hong Kong Port

We apply intervention analysis to examine the impact of the financial tsunami on container throughputs for Hong Kong port quantitatively. Evidences from ARIMA-intervention model show that the real impact of the financial tsunami on Hong Kong port happened earlier than the observable fall in the throughput data, namely significant impact started around May 2008, while the forecasting model with considering financial tsunami from Sept. 2008 to Oct. 2009 is superior. VAR-intervention analysis is employed to compare the Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports. Our findings suggest that Shenzhen port is more sensitive to the financial tsunami than Hong Kong port, showing an earlier and deeper impact. Their relationship also changed after the financial tsunami, namely Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports become less dependent on each other. These findings remind us that, when considering the impact of the financial tsunami on port, one should not casually choose a starting time point based on the visual observation from the data because there is a time delay between the real impact on container throughput and its manifestation in the throughput data series.

Empirical analysis on threats to Hong Kong port in regional competitive environment

Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports share the same hinterland for container cargoes. The overall container volume to and from this hinterland has grew tremendously over the last two decades. At the same time, the market shares of the two ports have been changing dramatically, especially in the last 10 years, with Shenzhen port quickly rising from a negligible local port to a world-class 'equal' player. Will this trend in market share allocation continue? Will market equilibrium be reached eventually? What will be the future for Hong Kong port? To answer these questions, we need to first understand the true competitive relation between the two ports. Using the container throughput data, we show the evolving competition relationship between the two ports and in-coming threats to Hong Kong port empirically. Our empirical evidences complement the theoretical analysis in the literature.

Port resources rationalization for better container barge services in Hong Kong

The manufacturing base in the Pearl River Delta of China is moving westwards, where the Pearl River system has extensive coverage. This makes container barge transport a new growth area for Hong Kong Port. Traditionally, Hong Kong Port has been the main gateway for containers transported through the Pearl River system, but this advantageous position is under challenge from the adjacent ports in South China, especially from Shenzhen Port, which is keen to take a bigger share of the new growth by improving the access of barges to its port facilities. While services at Shenzhen Port are improving, barge operators have been experiencing high congestion at Hong Kong Port. Improving the quality of barge container services becomes crucial for Hong Kong Port. In this study, we propose and investigate three improvement strategies: to enhance the consolidation of small container flows, to increase the efficiency of berth allocations for barges, and to optimize the overall utilization of port resources in Hong Kong. These strategies can be instrumental for keeping Hong Kong's status as the gateway for the Pearl River system and help maintain its competitiveness as an international shipping hub.