Title: Port competition, connectivity and accessibility changes under the disturbance: the case of the Chinese port system

Authors: Dong Huang; Hongxiang Feng; Manel Grifoll; Pengjun Zheng; Qin Lin

Addresses: Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315832, China; Barcelona Innovation in Transport (BIT), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech, 08003, Barcelona, Spain ' Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315832, China ' Barcelona Innovation in Transport (BIT), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech, 08003, Barcelona, Spain ' Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315832, China ' Barcelona Innovation in Transport (BIT), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract: To investigate the challenge of disturbances such as COVID-19, we proposed a method to explore the competition, connectivity and accessibility changes in port systems under the disturbance. And then, this method is applied to Chinese port systems in the context of COVID-19. Results indicate: first, lower-intensity competition mainly occurred in the pre-COVID-19 period while high-intensity competition mainly took place in the post-COVID-19 period; second, the COVID-19 pandemic weakened the connectivity and accessibility of the port; finally, from the perspective of the Chinese port systems, before COVID-19, Ningbo Port faced the most competition, which came from Shanghai Port. However, after COVID-19, Guangzhou Port had the fiercest competition that happened with Xiamen Port and Qingdao Port. In terms of connectivity and accessibility, the ranking of the Chinese port system is as follows: YRDP, PRDP and BRP. Meanwhile, Shanghai Port has the highest connectivity and accessibility, followed by Ningbo Port and Shenzhen Port.

Keywords: COVID-19; port container traffic; port competition; port connectivity and accessibility; Chinese port systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2025.147403

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2025 Vol.20 No.3, pp.359 - 380

Received: 14 Jul 2023
Accepted: 18 Dec 2023
Published online: 15 Jul 2025 *

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