Evaluation of Port Prosperity Based on High Spatial Resolution Satellite Remote Sensing Images

More and more ports appeared along China’s coastline, which destroyed natural coastline and coastal landscape. Some of them are inefficiency operations. It is important to evaluate operational efficiency of ports to reveal their position in regional competitive environment. In this study, high spatial resolution satellite remote sensing images were used to monitor ship number and plane area. The port-use prosperity index (PUI) was subsequently proposed to quantitatively describe port-use business and reveal port-use efficiency. The PUI was applied to six ports around the Bohai Sea, China. The number, scale, and plane of ships docked in these ports were easily monitored by the high spatial resolution satellite remote sensing images, and the PUI was calculated using a ship’s total plane area and length of docked coastline. The PUI is an objective and practical index for evaluating port-use efficiency. It can be used to compare differences in port use and indicate temporal port-use dynamics. The PUI values of Jingtang and Tianjin Ports were the highest (17.75 and 14.14, respectively), whereas that of Yantai Port was the lowest (8.31). The PUI values of the remaining ports were 9.02–10.70. A linear relationship existed between port throughput and PUI in the studied ports. This can forecast port throughput by monitoring and calculating PUI based on high spatial resolution satellite remote sensing images.