Throughput properties and clustering analysis of coastal ports in mainland China: an analysis method by time series complex network

Abstract

Explicit development orientations of ports are critical to pro moting port clusters from chaotic competitions to a hierarchical collaborative development. To investigate the development orien tation and hierarchies of coastal ports in Mainland China, a vi sibility graph network was constructed in this study for a time series analysis of China’s port throughputs from 2000 to 2020. In this model, the four throughput indexes of cargo, domestic trade cargo, foreign trade cargo, and container were used to measu re the scale of ports. The topological structural features of the throughput network of ports, including its average degree, diame ter, and average clustering coefficient, were calculated. The ports were then divided into four types based on their network charac teristics. Results show that the throughput time series network of coastal ports in Mainland China has an obvious hierarchical structure and generally has the characteristics of small-world net works. These ports are closely connected and have a strong trans shipment capacity. However, an “absolute center” does not exist in this network, and these ports are in a state of disorderly and  chaotic competition with serious homogenization. The proposed model provides an appropriate method for the future planning and design of port clusters.