Supply levels of ports invested by China along the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road
Since the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward,Chinese enterprises have invested in ports along the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road in various ways.In the context of the impact of COVID-19,trade protectionism,and geopolitical instability,it is of great practical significance to analyze the supply status of invested ports for improving port operation efficiency,optimizing port resource utilization,and promoting sustainable development of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.This study is based on the construction of port supply theory framework,and utilizes multi-source port and shipping data,remote sensing data and the entropy weight-TOPSIS evaluation model to establish the comprehensive evaluation system of port supply.The system includes 8 first-level indexes and 37 second-level indexes,such as natural conditions,infrastructures and production conditions.Then,this study measures the supply level of invested ports from three aspects:overall,regional and dimensional.The results show that:(1)The overall supply level of invested ports is not high,with most ports categorized as medium or lower levels.At the same time,the equilibrium of supply and demand is low,indicating that the majority of supply falls short of meeting the demand.(2)Before 2015,Chinese enterprises predominantly invested in the ports with higher supply level,mostly in Europe.However,after 2015,the focus shifted to strategically located ports with lower supply level such as strategic fulcrum ports,gateway ports and ports along strategic corridors.(3)The enterprise-cooperation type-port supply level can be categorized into three types:terminal operators-equity acquisition-ports with higher supply level;engineering contractors-contract construction-ports with medium and low supply level;shipping companies-equity acquisitions and franchises-ports with higher supply levels.(4)From regional perspective,the spatial structure of port supply systems in West Asia,South Asia,Africa,Southeast Asia and Europe are at the stage of low-level equilibrium,isolated dual-core,primitive single-core,hub polar core and multi-core development,respectively.(5)From different dimensions,the main factors affecting the comprehensive supply level of ports lie in the derivative and improving factors,such as logistics level,service level and storage conditions.
port supply levelChinese enterprises investmentsupply evaluation systemport and shipping big data21 st-Century Maritime Silk Road
万方数据
