A connectivity-based approach to evaluating port importance in the global container shipping network

This paper proposes a framework for evaluating the strategic importance of container ports based on their connectivity. The Container Port Connectivity Index is computed and decomposed into components according to the Liner Shipping Connectivity Index—each reflecting its contribution to the overall port importance score. The framework produces separate scores for each component, thus allowing port stakeholders to better comprehend why a particular port has become important, and for what reasons. The decomposition approach also allows more detailed analyses, and explanations of the impacts of major economic phenomena—i.e., the expansion of Panama Canal or the crumbling of Hanjin shipping—on the relative importance of ports within the Global Container Shipping Network, as more explanatory variables become available. Our computational results indicate that, while the connectivity of ports related to these events is impacted, changes on connectivity rankings could be adequately explained by the proposed decomposition scheme. The inbound connectivity of New York, for example, was slightly improved after the Panama Canal expansion—from the 29th place in Q1/2016 to the 24th place in Q2/2016—due mainly to the rise in the larger capacity of ships calling. However, in Q3/2016, its inbound rank returned to the 29th place, which was mainly due to the decline in the number of liner services available, number of liner companies, and number of ships calling. The effects of Hanjin’s bankruptcy, on the contrary, were more localized and relatively brief.