Research On Topology And Evolution Of World Shipping Network

Shipping is one of the most important modes of transport for world trade, having a research of it is of great significance for social economy. World Shipping is a complex system on dynamic evolvement by time, which is not only related to the ports and shipping companies, but also the state laws and regulations, social culture, ocean development, personnel training and other factors.According to the theory of complex networks, the complex nature of shipping system can be studied in-depth and systematic to explore the development characteristics and trends of world shipping. The shipping system can be regarded as a complex network where ports are abstracted as nodes and shipping routes as links. Through the world shipping network topology built by the complex network, it is easy to understand and explain the basic structural features of world shipping, and find the trends of shipping industry according to the evolution of the network.In this thesis, complex network theory method and research technique are used for the research of world shipping network topology and evolution. By combining the basic characteristics of network obtained through empirical analysis and the network evolution trends summarized from the network evolution characteristics, it provides a new research direction for China’s port, shipping and other related enterprises to gain a competitive advantage in the increasingly competitive environment. In the study of the topology, the world major shipping companies’ routes data is used to build a network topology map and study the static statistics such as network size, degree distribution, average path length and clustering coefficient. In the study of network evolution, after summarizing the impact factors and analyzing the stage evolution characteristics caused by economic crisis, this thesis produces a prediction about the evolution trends of world shipping network after the opening of the Arctic route. Finally, this thesis puts forward some development strategies for port, shipping and other related industries based on world shipping network topology and evolution.