Port competition with accessibility and congestion: a theoretical framework and literature review on empirical studies

ABSTRACT

This review interprets recent studies of the interactions between the competition of gateway seaports and the accessibility of landside transportation links to inland regions. Port competition is treated as part of a rivalry between two transportation chains. This article identifies the main modeling approaches and defines the different types of hinterland access systems described in the literature. A general theoretical framework is then proposed to incorporate those key components. The importance of the proposed framework is revealed by comparing and extending results from the literature. Major assumptions that need further empirical verification are identified and discussed, and related empirical studies are reviewed. Finally, avenues for further research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Port competition
• hinterland accessibility
• game theoretic approach
• strategic investment
• empirics

Acknowledgement

We thank three anonymous referees and seminar participants at the University of Tokyo and Hiroshima University for their helpful comments. Financial support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (RGC/PolyU 252015/14E) and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC, No. 410-2011-0569) is gratefully acknowledged. A. Zhang thanks the Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC), Hiroshima University, for offering hospitality as a visiting professor when this paper was prepared.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (RGC/PolyU 252015/14E) and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC, No. 410-2011-0569) is gratefully acknowledged.