Abstract:

The hierarchical structures and cliques of the global container shipping network are very important in understanding the global container port system layout and division, as well as global container port investment and construction. In this paper, we constructed global container shipping network at the country level, based on the data of shipping schedules from the top 10 shipping companies in 2015. We use the social network analysis method and the core-periphery model to investigate the hierarchical structures of global container shipping network from two aspects, the contact extent and contact strength of the maritime countries. In addition, we studied the cliques of global container shipping network at the country level using the C level cliques method in social network analysis theory. The results show that the hierarchical structures obtained according to the contact extent and link strength of maritime countries are different. However, there are seven countries (i.e., China, Netherlands, Singapore, Germany, Brazil, Arab and France) which are always in the core area regardless the metrics. Therefore, theses seven countries are not only important shipping countries in terms of shipping connectivity but also important shipping countries in terms of functionality. What's more, we set three different critical values to study the cliques division of the global container shipping network and found that the cliques divided by all three kinds of critical values have high overlaps. In addition, there are few cross-region cliques.

Key words: global logistics, shipping network, social network analysis, hierarchical system, clique division

摘要：

全球集装箱海运网络层次体系与派系划分对深入了解全球集装箱港口布局和分工及港口投资建设等具有重要的参考价值。基于全球10 大集装箱班轮公司的航运数据，以海运国家为节点构建全球集装箱航运网络，运用社会网络分析方法，采用“核心-边缘”模型，从国家间海运联系广度和国家间海运联系强度两个角度对全球集装箱海运网络进行层次体系划分，并且应用社会网络分析中的C 层次派系法对全球集装箱海运联系网络进行派系划分。结果表明：根据联系广度和联系强度划分出的全球集装箱海运网络“核心-边缘”结构并不相同。但是，中国、荷兰、新加坡、德国、巴西、阿联酋和法国这7 个国家在两种层次划分方法中都处于核心区，可见这7 个国家在全球集装箱海运网络中不仅在连通性上处于核心枢纽位置，在功能性上也处于核心地位。在C层次派系法中，从区域性上看，跨区域派系较少。

关键词: 国际物流, 集装箱海运网络, 社会网络分析, 层次体系, 派系划分