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Abstract
This paper proposes a methodology based on non‐parametric statistical techniques to analyse whether the ordinal preferences in the port selection process are stable, and also the intensity of those preferences. We apply this methodology to the Spanish case from the landside perspective in order to answer the following question: Has the increase in inter‐port competition changed the port preferences? The result obtained is that the port selection pattern of the provinces has changed slightly, leading us to the conclusion that the relative appeal of the ports remains quite stable from the spatial perspective, despite the reform of the port system.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank José Ángel Vallejo Pinto, Professor from the Computer Science Department at Oviedo University (Spain), for his technical support. Financial support was provided by the Government of Spain and FEDER, under project MTM2008‐06778‐C. In addition, the authors are grateful to two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and valuable suggestions.
