Rapid seaward expansion of seaport footprints worldwide
Rapid seaward expansion of seaport footprints worldwide
As global maritime traffic increases, seaports grow to accommodate and compete for higher volumes of trade throughput. However, growth trajectories of seaport footprints around the world have gone unmeasured, likely because of a lack of readily available spatio-temporal data. Here, we use geospatial analysis of global satellite imagery from 1990–2020 to show that 65 seaports among the world’s top 100 container ports, as ranked by reported throughput, have been expanding rapidly seaward. Collectively, these seaports have added approximately 978 km2 in gross port area in three decades through coastal land reclamation. We also find that the relationship between footprint expansion and throughput volume is highly variable among seaports. Understanding patterns of seaport expansion in space and time informs global assessments of critical infrastructure and supply chain vulnerability to climate-driven hazard. Seaport expansion also sets up complex trade-offs in the context of environmental impacts and climate adaptation.
Sengupta, Dhritiraj
342ff163-b9b1-4691-a5f9-8dcae7c46032
Lazarus, Eli D.
642a3cdb-0d25-48b1-8ab8-8d1d72daca6e
December 2023
Sengupta, Dhritiraj
342ff163-b9b1-4691-a5f9-8dcae7c46032
Lazarus, Eli D.
642a3cdb-0d25-48b1-8ab8-8d1d72daca6e
Sengupta, Dhritiraj and Lazarus, Eli D.
(2023)
Rapid seaward expansion of seaport footprints worldwide.
Communications Earth & Environment, 4 (1), [440].
(doi:10.1038/s43247-023-01110-y).
Abstract
As global maritime traffic increases, seaports grow to accommodate and compete for higher volumes of trade throughput. However, growth trajectories of seaport footprints around the world have gone unmeasured, likely because of a lack of readily available spatio-temporal data. Here, we use geospatial analysis of global satellite imagery from 1990–2020 to show that 65 seaports among the world’s top 100 container ports, as ranked by reported throughput, have been expanding rapidly seaward. Collectively, these seaports have added approximately 978 km2 in gross port area in three decades through coastal land reclamation. We also find that the relationship between footprint expansion and throughput volume is highly variable among seaports. Understanding patterns of seaport expansion in space and time informs global assessments of critical infrastructure and supply chain vulnerability to climate-driven hazard. Seaport expansion also sets up complex trade-offs in the context of environmental impacts and climate adaptation.
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s43247-023-01110-y
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Accepted/In Press date: 14 November 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 November 2023
Published date: December 2023
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Funding Information:
The authors thank the editors and two reviewers for their constructive comments that improved the manuscript, and gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Leverhulme Trust (to E.D.L.; RPG-2018-282), the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (to E.D.L.; NE/X011496/1), and the British Society for Geomorphology (to D.S.; BSG-2022-21).
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© 2023, The Author(s).
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Local EPrints ID: 485201
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/485201
PURE UUID: 0724beb7-fd51-4ba6-9c54-4e41bf2c3806
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Date deposited: 01 Dec 2023 17:33
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:38
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Author:
Dhritiraj Sengupta
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