STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN PORT CARGO FLOW DISTRIBUTION IN ASIAN CONTAINER PORT SYSTEMS

This study discusses the structural changes in port cargo flow distribution in Asia and traffic inequality in Asian container port systems, by conducting an inequality decomposition analysis of the Gini index. Specifically, port systems considered here comprise 229 container ports, which were classified into fifteen port ranges according to their geographic locations and annual port container traffic data from 1980 to 2009. The results confirmed the trend of shrinking inequality all in all. Progress in port development in Asia allowed us to confirm similar trends for each port range from a time series estimation. The result also revealed the trend of expanding inequality between pairs of port ranges, such as those of China and Southeast Asia. The following structural changes were observed: (a) the trend of shrinking inequality within/between port ranges due to regional port developments in Japan, (b) the trend of slightly shrinking inequality within/between port ranges in South Korea and Taiwan due to policy-concentrated investments at limited container ports, and (c) the changes in the center of gravity of container movements and inter-port competition within Chinese and Southeast Asian port range groups, owing to the increase in container handling volumes at all ports for specific port ranges. As a result, the comparative differences in the pace of economic growth and port investments in Asia have produced changes in inequalities.