Revisiting important ports in container shipping networks: A structural hole-based approach

Transshipment ports are important constituents of the global and regional container shipping networks. Betweenness centrality is often used to identify transshipment ports by focusing on the global topology of the shipping network without adequate consideration of local topologies of ports’ ego shipping networks, and therefore some ports that are playing intermediary roles as hubs within the regional scopes may not be recognized sufficiently. The structural hole theory is introduced to detect regional transshipment ports by paying more attention on local topologies. The results show that the structural hole-based approach can effectively identify some relatively small transshipment ports at the regional level, which are important supplementaries to the detected ports based on betweenness centralities. Las Palmas Port is taken as an illustration to explain how a port occupying the position of a structural hole is likely to become the regional hub by functioning as a connecting bridge. Several policy implications are further elaborated for relevant decision-makers such as liner companies, port authorities and international port operators. • Transshipment ports are constituents of container shipping networks. • Structural hole-based method can effectively identify regional transshipment ports. • Structural hole approach is supplementary to the betweenness centrality method.