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China in transition: institutional change at work in inland waterway transport on the Yangtze River

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  • Li, J.Y.
  • Notteboom, T.E.
  • Jacobs, W.

Abstract

Chinese national fiscal reforms and the transfer of power from the central government to local governments impact the governance of inland waterway transport (IWT). In this paper we argue that the development of IWT on the Yangtze River is strongly influenced by institutional changes at different levels of government in line with the path dependent transformation of the Chinese centrally planned economy. This paper deduces how institutional change of IWT on the Yangtze fails to fulfil its purposes because of institutional legacies and conflicts of interests among the various levels of government and the persistent interwovenness of the state with private enterprises (via SOEs). In order to further stimulate IWT on the Yangtze more institutional changes are on the cards, in particular a need for more (foreign) private involvement and more independent SOEs, but these changes will not necessarily break out of the development path.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, J.Y. & Notteboom, T.E. & Jacobs, W., 2014. "China in transition: institutional change at work in inland waterway transport on the Yangtze River," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 17-28.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:40:y:2014:i:c:p:17-28
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.05.017
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    Cited by:

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    3. Liu, Weichen & Cao, Youhui & Chen, Jianglong & Guo, Jiaying & Liang, Shuangbo, 2023. "Organization of river-sea container transportation in the Yangtze River: Processes and mechanisms," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Zhao, Yiran & Yang, Zhongzhen & Haralambides, Hercules, 2019. "Optimizing the transport of export containers along China's coronary artery: The Yangtze River," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 11-25.
    5. Wenjie Li & Jialing Dai & Yi Xiao & Shengfa Yang & Chenpeng Song, 2021. "Estimating waterway freight demand at Three Gorges ship lock on Yangtze River by backpropagation neural network modeling," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 23(3), pages 495-521, September.
    6. Jiang, Yonglei & Lu, Jing & Cai, Yutong & Zeng, Qingcheng, 2018. "Analysis of the impacts of different modes of governance on inland waterway transport development on the Pearl River: The Yangtze River Mode vs. the Pearl River Mode," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 235-252.
    7. Gujar, Girish C. & Ng, Adolf K.Y. & Notteboom, Theo, 2019. "The impacts of major government initiatives on the development of dry ports: A case study of the direct port delivery scheme in India," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    8. Notteboom, Theo & Yang, Dong & Xu, Hua, 2020. "Container barge network development in inland rivers: A comparison between the Yangtze River and the Rhine River," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 587-605.

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