Port Competition and Network Polarization in the East Asian Maritime Corridor

Abstract

Port competition is often analyzed based on individual characteristics of seaports rather than inter-port connections. A maritime network perspective is applied to the circulation of liner vessels between East Asian ports in order to reveal their relative position in 1996 and 2006. Main results confirm the progress of secondary ports over their major competitors, reflecting the importance of local port policies. However, the overall structure of the regional network tends to remain polarized by few major hub ports resisting to internal and external threats.

Keywords

• Asia
• centrality
• hub port
• liner shipping
• network analysis
• nodal region