“…Seaports are connected to a large set of overseas seaports, while inland port systems are typically fed by only a few large gateway ports. For example, the Rhine river in Europe is highly dependent on the main container ports Rotterdam and Antwerp (see Notteboom and Konings, 2004), the Seine river ports in France rely primarily on maritime container flows transshipped in Le Havre and the ports in the Rhône/Saône basin such as Lyon and Dijon are highly dependent on the Mediterranean seaport of Marseille (see Frémont et al, 2009). Similarly the Yangtze River port system relies mainly on Shanghai and to a lesser extent also on Ningbo and the connections of the lower reach ports (Taicang, Nanjing, Ziangjiagang, among others), with nearby countries such as South Korea and Japan, for containerized cargo volumes.…”