The Effects of Seaport-Inland Port Dyads on Seaport Container Hinterland Delimitation

Abstract

The emerging seaport-inland port dyad shows a great contribution to the hinterlands of seaports. However, little literature looked at its influence. This paper used an improved radiation model to study the effects of the seaport-inland port dyad on the seaport container hinterland delimitation in a Chinese multi-port system (system including 7 seaports, 2 inland ports, and 31 provinces, and formed 14 dyads). The radiation of each seaport on provinces was estimated to track changes in seaport superior hinterlands and hinterland ratings. The results showed that: i) After forming seaport-inland port dyad, the superior hinterlands scope of Shanghai Port and Shenzhen Port were expanded. ii) Both Shenzhen Port and Xiamen Port increased their radiation and then further expanded the scope of their strong and stronger level of radiation hinterlands. The provinces close to inland ports and far from seaports were significantly affected. These conclusions demonstrated that the seaport can expand its hinterland scope by establishing a seaport-inland port dyad and then compete with other seaports for market share in long-distance provinces. Various seaports may have different effects from the same inland port. As a result, seaports should choose suitable dyad to achieve their hinterland targets.