Evaluating the competitiveness of container ports in Korea and China

Changes in world trade and the shipping environment have created ever-increasing competition between ports in Northeast Asia, especially Korea and China. Following intensive state investment in port developments through large-scale projects, Chinese ports now threaten to oust Busan in Korea as the regional hub. To identify and evaluate the competitiveness of major ports in the region, this paper identifies the components influencing their competitiveness and presents a structure for evaluating them. Based on the literature related to port selection and competition, a regional survey of shipping companies and owners employed factor analysis to reveal that port service, hinterland condition, availability, convenience, logistics cost, regional centre and connectivity are the determining factors in these regions. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.