The Evaluation And Analysis Of Important Ports’ Competitiveness Along 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road

In October 2013,China put forward the the Belt and Road,which have attracted close attention from all over the world.As the intersection of shipping logistics,the port has become an important link in the transportation and economic systems.Analyzing the important ports and their competitiveness along the Maritime Silk Road can deepen our understanding of ports and scientifically invest and construct the ports.It has a very important practical significance for the construction of the 21 st-Century Maritime Silk Road.Port competitiveness is its comparative advantage relative to other ports,depending on its natural environment,the infrastructure and the hinterland economy,attracting various shipping elements,and by optimizing the allocation of various resources,so as to occupy the transportation market and maintain the sustainable development.In order to enrich the evaluation index of the port competitiveness,this paper adds the network attribute of the port to the evaluation index,so as to reflect the port’s position in the global shipping network.In existing research,the most widely used evaluation method is analytic hierarchy process(AHP),which is more subjective.The Entropy weight-Analytic Hierarchy Process Method is put forward in view of the shortcomings of the current evaluation methods of port competitiveness.This method can not only comb out many indicators hierarchically,but also objectively assign the weights of each index,so as to get more realistic evaluation results.The 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road is designed to go from China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route,and from China’s coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific in the other.In the existing research,this is a new area.This paper,focusing on the main ports in the India Ocean,covers the Mediterranean coastal ports in the west,and gives a comprehensive analysis of the spatial distribution pattern of the ports in this area.Final results show that(1)the spatial distribution of port competitiveness shows obvious regional characteristics,and it is significantly correlated to the development level of the country.The competitiveness of ports in the Mediterranean region is generally stronger,followed by ports in Asia,and the ports in Africa are the weakest.(2)The network status of port has the greatest influence on ports’ competitiveness,and most of the high competitive ports are in strategic channels.(3)Although there really exists a competitiveness gap between the mature ports and the ports invested by China along the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road,a great space can be found for further improvement.