Spatial Pattern and Regional Relevance Analysis of the Maritime Silk Road Shipping Network

Abstract

Under the strategy of "One Belt and One Road", this paper explores the spatial pattern and the status quo of regional trade relevance of the Maritime Silk Road shipping network. Based on complex network theory, a topological structure map of shipping networks for containers, tankers, and bulk carriers was constructed, and the spatial characteristics of shipping networks were analyzed. Using the mode of spatial arrangement and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, this paper further analyzes the traffic flow pattern of regional trade of three kinds of goods. It is shown that the shipping network of containers, tankers and bulk carriers are unevenly distributed and have regional agglomeration phenomena. There is a strong correlation between the interior of the region and the adjacent areas, and the port competition is fierce. Among them, the container ships network is the most competitive in the region, while the competitiveness of the tankers network is relatively the lowest. The inter-regional correlation is weak, and a few transit hub ports have obvious competitive advantages. The ports in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia are the most significant. The research results combined with the Maritime Silk Road policy can provide reference for port construction, route optimization, and coordinated development of regional trade, which will help to save time and cost of marine transportation, reduce energy consumption, and promote the sustainable development of marine environment and regional trade on the Maritime Silk Road.

The geography of maritime networks: A critical review

“…Others like Tovar et al (2015) on the Canary Islands and Fraser et al 2016on Southern Africa looked at peripherality in relation to the wider, global network. Uneven traffic distribution and the competitive advantage of hub ports were at center stage in studies of the new "maritime silk road" (Wang et al, 2018;Mou et al, 2018;Jiang et al, 2019) but also within the Mediterranean (Arvis et al, 2019), the Yellow Sea (Guo et al, 2017), and the Bohai Rim (Lu et al, 2018). Understanding the weaknesses of spokesand the strength of hubsin maritime networks gained from the concept of "hub dependence", i.e.…”

The Impact of Slumping Oil Price on the Situation of Tanker Shipping along the Maritime Silk Road

“…The maritime crude oil trade depends on the structure of supply and demand, so tanker transportation has a direct and close relationship with crude oil export and consumption. Port conditions in many oil importing countries do not meet the ultra large crude carrier (ULCC), so crude oil transportation requires transit hub ports and then is shipped to import destinations by small vessels [35]. Comparing the changes of oil tanker cargo flow before and after the oil price slumped, we find that the shipping situation of importing countries and transshipment hub ports are concentrated rapidly.…”

Traffic Inequality and Relations in Maritime Silk Road: A Network Flow Analysis

“…Many scholars have used a complex network theory to conduct in-depth research on shipping relations. For example, Kitamura et al [36], Pais Montes et al [37], and Mou et al [38] used the complex network theory to analyze the competition and cooperation relations, spatial association modes, and route evolution among countries in the shipping network for different cargo types. The complex network theory calculates and analyzes all the edges in a large-scale network; however, not all edges are meaningful.…”