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Evaluation and strategy development of port-industry-city integration: a China's case

Evaluation and strategy development of port-industry-city integration: a China's case
Evaluation and strategy development of port-industry-city integration: a China's case

In large economies of high-volume international trade, such as China, the concept of regional port integration requires the establishment of provincial-level port companies and the consolidation of major local ports. While port reform at the provincial/regional level has seen considerable success, the current state-of-the-art studies on port integration mainly focus on two-dimensional analysis (e.g., port-city and port-industry), which reveals a remaining research gap in the evaluation of the port-Industry-City (PIC) integration from a new three-dimensional perspective. This study aims to develop a new method enabling the assessment of the impact of provincial reform at the PIC level. The method can deliver a new comprehensive evaluation index system and a new coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) to facilitate PIC integration. Moreover, a critical analysis is conducted on the main trends, primary obstacles, and impact of port reform models at the PIC level. Real big data describing prefecture-level cities is collected and used to conduct a case study of coastal ports across different provinces in China. The results reveal an overall upward trend of the comprehensive development index, which is especially evident after the port reforms. Furthermore, significant strategic developments are proposed in the implementation of regional port reform. Except for Zhenjiang, southern and central cities perform better than those in northern regions. Consequently, this study makes new contributions to enabling the quantification of the impact of the reform on PIC integration and laying the groundwork for decision-makers seeking to determine appropriate port management models.

Coupling coordination degree model, Coupling effect, Port-Industry-City (PIC) system, Regional port integration, Strategy development
2210-5395
Yu, Tiaolan
96610c95-0cf7-49a7-b845-e556759c734d
Li, Huanhuan
5e806b21-10a7-465c-9db3-32e466ae42f1
Zhou, Tianlan
b8d7283a-2dc0-43ca-b2fb-fab63723119d
Zhao, Nan
146efde9-ea66-4a62-9694-85c29c20cfc6
Yang, Zaili
82d4eebc-4532-4343-8555-35169e79bb6d
Yu, Tiaolan
96610c95-0cf7-49a7-b845-e556759c734d
Li, Huanhuan
5e806b21-10a7-465c-9db3-32e466ae42f1
Zhou, Tianlan
b8d7283a-2dc0-43ca-b2fb-fab63723119d
Zhao, Nan
146efde9-ea66-4a62-9694-85c29c20cfc6
Yang, Zaili
82d4eebc-4532-4343-8555-35169e79bb6d

Yu, Tiaolan, Li, Huanhuan, Zhou, Tianlan, Zhao, Nan and Yang, Zaili (2025) Evaluation and strategy development of port-industry-city integration: a China's case. Research in Transportation Business & Management, 60, [101375]. (doi:10.1016/j.rtbm.2025.101375).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In large economies of high-volume international trade, such as China, the concept of regional port integration requires the establishment of provincial-level port companies and the consolidation of major local ports. While port reform at the provincial/regional level has seen considerable success, the current state-of-the-art studies on port integration mainly focus on two-dimensional analysis (e.g., port-city and port-industry), which reveals a remaining research gap in the evaluation of the port-Industry-City (PIC) integration from a new three-dimensional perspective. This study aims to develop a new method enabling the assessment of the impact of provincial reform at the PIC level. The method can deliver a new comprehensive evaluation index system and a new coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) to facilitate PIC integration. Moreover, a critical analysis is conducted on the main trends, primary obstacles, and impact of port reform models at the PIC level. Real big data describing prefecture-level cities is collected and used to conduct a case study of coastal ports across different provinces in China. The results reveal an overall upward trend of the comprehensive development index, which is especially evident after the port reforms. Furthermore, significant strategic developments are proposed in the implementation of regional port reform. Except for Zhenjiang, southern and central cities perform better than those in northern regions. Consequently, this study makes new contributions to enabling the quantification of the impact of the reform on PIC integration and laying the groundwork for decision-makers seeking to determine appropriate port management models.

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Accepted/In Press date: 7 April 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 14 April 2025
Published date: 14 April 2025
Keywords: Coupling coordination degree model, Coupling effect, Port-Industry-City (PIC) system, Regional port integration, Strategy development

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 503700
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/503700
ISSN: 2210-5395
PURE UUID: 64a3519f-fc05-4cf9-bf2d-19a5dcf79fed
ORCID for Huanhuan Li: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4293-4763

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 Aug 2025 16:34
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:49

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Contributors

Author: Tiaolan Yu
Author: Huanhuan Li ORCID iD
Author: Tianlan Zhou
Author: Nan Zhao
Author: Zaili Yang

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