Port connectivity study: An analysis framework from a global container liner shipping network perspective

This paper introduces an analysis framework for port connectivity from a global container liner shipping network perspective: it is defined in terms of the impact on the transportation network when the transshipment service is not available at the evaluated port. Under this framework, two models for port connectivity are introduced from transportation time and capacity. Compared with existing measures, the strength of our framework and models is not only that it provides scientific methods to compute port connectivity, but it is able to capture a global effect on how port connectivity contributes to the overall network for given shipping services. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.