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This paper reviews the literature on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has the factors that directly influence the transport and logistics. The relevant literature has been collected systematically since the BRI was initiated in 2013. We adopt a content analysis methodology involving a four-step process. It can be found that firstly, more and more papers on the BRI have been published these years and the influence of BRI on transport and logistics can be summarized into three main perspectives, namely, the changes of the politics & policy, the changes of the environmental dimensions, the direct influence on transport and logistics; secondly, the topics and adopted methodology have been summarized, and it can be found that the percentage papers using quantitative analysis increases over the years; thirdly, percentage of papers with optimistic attitude on the BRI has been increasing since 2013 and compared with authors with affiliations in China, authors with non-Chinese affiliations are more likely to show pessimistic attitudes; fourthly, the research gaps have been summarized, which illustrates future research direction or topics and can promote the studies on transport and logistics considering the influence of the BRI and provides theoretical basis for BRI's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Ice Silk Road (ISR) was put forward, its development prospect has become the focus of academic circles. To study the influence mechanism of 'fairness preference' on the trade cooperation of countries along the ISR, this paper constructs the trade cooperation network based on the bilateral trade data of countries along the ISR, establishes the theoretical model of network game based on Rabin model, and uses the simulation method to test the model. The results show that: (1) the sense of national cognitive fairness does have an impact on the trade cooperation of the ISR; (2) the 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' strategy is not an advantage strategy in the trade cooperation of the ISR; (3) the most significant factor affecting the trade cooperation of countries along the ISR is the neighbor node in the trade network and the social public opinion pressure of cooperation in the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issues of port investment, considering the mutual selection process of the industries planned for transfer and recipient countries with location advantage, along the Maritime Silk Road (MSR). We propose a method for determining the production scale of different industries in each country by analyzing location advantage, the regional imports of commodities from each recipient country, the import transportation route scheme, the port network structure, and the port investment scheme along the MSR. This method is constructed on the basis of a hub-spoke network model, a location model, and a matching game model. We select 14 countries along the MSR as a case study and treat them as the supply zones of commodities, while six continents are taken as the demand zones. The numerical analysis show that Sihanoukville Port in Cambodia, Port Klang in Malaysia, and Mundra Port in India will become hub ports, and that 81, 41, and 24 container berths will be constructed at each of these harbors, respectively. Whether a port will become a hub depends on the industrial growth potential in its direct hinterland, its geographical advantages in the global shipping network, and its relative spatial relationship to other hub ports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deepening of the 'Belt and Road (B&R)' initiative (BRI), the trends of manufacturing relocation and diffusion along the B&R has accelerated. This paper first collects bilateral trade data of 16 categories of major commodities among 55 countries along the B&R for 2017. Second, according to current and future transportation accessibility, this paper constructs two types of topological networks among countries along the B&R from the perspectives of both competitive and complementary trade. Percolation theory is adopted to analyze the manufacturing diffusion trends and bottleneck links among the two types of topological trade networks, which provides a new perspective through which to study manufacturing relocation and diffusion patterns. The results show that (1) based on current transportation accessibility, main industries percolate and agglomerate among countries with rapid economic development along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and that (2) the improvement in the China-Europe Railway Express (CR Express) postpones diffusion trends and improves the relocation potential of Silk Road Economic Belt regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the proposal of the Belt and Road initiative in March 2015, the Chinese government has continued to increase its investment in transportation infrastructure construction in West African countries. To realize the scientific decision-making process for large-scale investment, this paper establishes a shipping network design–infrastructure investment joint optimization model. The abovementioned model aims to find the minimum generalized transportation cost in the study area and jointly optimizes the construction scheme of the regional inland transportation network (i.e., railway network), the expansion scheme of the port (i.e., container port) throughput capacity, and the operation scheme of the shipping network (i.e., container shipping network) given a limited budget. Based on the framework of the active set algorithm, an algorithm that can explore the local optimal solution of the abovementioned model is designed. Taking China–West Africa transportation as the research object, numerical experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the model and algorithm. Two types of sensitivity analyses for different investment scales and origin-destination demand are designed. The results show that the proposed model and algorithm can effectively solve the abovementioned problem and can provide decision-making support for the Chinese government in formulating reasonable investment schemes for West Africa. This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled, 'Shipping network design–infrastructure investment joint optimization model' presented at the 3rd International Conference of the Yangtze River Research and Innovation Belt, Ningbo, China; 5–7 November 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the development modes of inland ports based on the economic models and the Chinese empirical cases. After reviewing the recent policies in China, four modes, i.e., the government-driven mode, the seaport-driven, the market-driven mode and the corridor-effect mode, are established to describe the development of Chinese inland ports from the perspective of the driving forces. Moreover, we setup an economic model to compare them and conclude that (1) the seaport-driven mode promotes the larger inland port than the corridor-effect mode and the market-driven mode; (2) if the marginal capacity investment cost is low or the efficiency of the inland port is high enough, the corridor-effect mode leads to higher social welfare than the market-driven mode and the seaport-driven mode; (3) whether the government-driven mode promotes the larger inland port and higher social welfare than the other modes depends on the positive externality from the inland port to the social welfare; (4) The 'Go west' policy and the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R) promote the inland port capacity under all modes. Whether the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and the port integration promote the inland port capacity depends on the port efficiency improvement after the implementation of these policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the Southeast Asian countries are developing economies that have large demand for maritime infrastructures. Some but not all the ports in this region could significantly benefit from and contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by the Chinese government. This paper models the port investment priority in the Southeast Asian region, so that efficient and sustainable investments can be made under the BRI. Based on the link prediction theory, a random walk method is proposed to assess the priorities of port construction projects at different sites. The proposed method explicitly considers important economic and political factors, especially those linking Southeast Asian countries with China. Our model is calibrated and verified with numerical experiments, so that policy and managerial recommendations can be obtained for this region. Results consistent with industry reality also provide supports to the validity of the model. This study introduces a new dimension of investment planning for multiple ports taking into account the resultant impacts on shipping networks, and recommends selected port construction sites with good potential in Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is of significant importance for world freight transport. The ports along the MSR present a key element of the involved shipping networks to support the connectivity of the MSR. Therefore, it is crucial to carry an effective safety assessment of the ports to ensure the robustness and sustainability of the growing MSR. However, traditional quantitative risk analysis approaches (QRA) used in ports face many challenges when being applied within the context of the MSR, such as risk data incompleteness and ambiguity, and operational and environmental uncertainties. This paper proposes a novel safety evaluation approach to address these issues encountered during the risk analysis process in the MSR ports. The fuzzy set theory (FST), an evidential reasoning (ER) approach, and the expected utility theory are integrated in a holistic way in the proposed methodology. The proposed methodology is used to analyse five key ports along the MSR. The results provide decision-makers with useful insights on enhancing port safety, effective route planning as well as improving operational efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safety of maritime transportation along the twenty-first century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is important to ensure its development and sustainability. Maritime transportation poses risks of accidents that can cause the death or injury of crew members and damage to ships and the environment. This paper proposes a Bayesian network (BN) based risk analysis approach that is newly applied in the main route of the MSR to analyse its relevant maritime accidents. The risk data are manually collected from the reports of the accident that occurred along the MSR. Next, the risk factors are identified and the results from the modelling method can provide useful insights for accident prevention. Historical data collected from accident reports are used to estimate the prior probabilities of the identified risk factors influencing the occurrence of maritime accidents. The results show that the main influencing factors are the type and location of an accident and the type, speed, and age of the involved ship(s). In addition, scenario analysis is conducted to analyse the risks of different ships in various navigational environments. The findings can be used to analyse the probability of each possible maritime accident along MSR and to provide useful insights for shipowners' accident prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) initiated by China involves the construction of a new form of regional economic cooperation between China and the associated countries. Priority is given to eliminating maritime bottlenecks and improving maritime connectivity in the shipping network along the MSR. However, such potential bottlenecks have rarely been quantitatively identified. In this paper, we present a recursive spectral bi-partitioning method to detect the bottlenecks in the container shipping network along the MSR. This method identifies the bottlenecks by locating the cuts with the least total link frequency, normalised by the size of the port communities on either side of the cut. The results of the case study show that the proposed method performs well. Four bottlenecks with strategic geographical positions along the key trade lanes are found, namely: Suez Canal, Cape of Good Hope, northern Oceania, and the South China Sea, indicating locations in need of connectivity improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an analytical model allowing one to better understand the relationship between the 'Belt' and the 'Road' in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Firstly, we establish the link between the minimum subsidies received by the rail operators from the Chinese governments and the market conditions in the maritime sector. Then, we characterize the relationship between the new rail and the existing port. We show that the minimum subsidies are influenced by the external shipping demand and the shipping freight rate. Furthermore, the local economy will benefit from the BRI if the firm providing the services via rail can compete with the operator of the maritime routes in the future. Specifically, our analysis shows that competition will improve the service quality by reducing the delay costs, the transportation costs, and the shipping price and time, and that the magnitude of the welfare gain will mainly depend on the shippers' sensitivity to time and price. The policy and economic implications of separate and joint management of the port and rail facilities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the spatio-temporal evolution of the port system along the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) can reveal the development law of ports. This study adopts the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, rank-size law, and an improved spatial and temporal correlation to investigate the spatial distribution and spatio-temporal correlation characteristics of container ports along the MSR during 2000–2019. The results show that 1) the distribution trends among port clusters have significant differences, and the gravity centre of the port system gradually shifts from Europe to Asia (market shares of European and Asian ports decline from 28.15% to 19.83% and increase from 63.80% to 66.78%, respectively); 2) the port system undergoes periodic 'decentralisation–agglomeration–decentralisation', and its structure gradually develops a 'spindle' or 'olive' shape; 3) the initial effect of MSR arises on the economic development of ports, and the spatial occupation ability of small- and medium-sized port clusters increases steadily; and 4) the spatial and temporal correlation gradually increases. The evolution of temporal correlation is more complicated with a bifractal structure in 2000–2010. This study can provide decision support for port development and thus clarifies the investment environment and construction of MSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twenty-first Century Maritime Silk Road is the economic trade corridor that uses seaways to connect dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe as an important component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Ports are important links, and the efficiency of port operations can influence the cooperation effect of the Road. This study analyzes relative operation efficiency of a series of key ports along the twenty-first Century Maritime Silk Road (ports of Qingdao, Ningbo Zhoushan, Shanghai Yangshan, Shenzhen, Rotterdam, Singapore, Piraeus, Hamburg and Colombo) on the basis of data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. Results show that Qingdao Port is substantially efficient and the ports of Ningbo Zhoushan and Shanghai Yangshan develop rapidly. The DEA–supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model is used as basis to analyze the port operating efficiency of ship inward–outward and stacking yard with Qingdao Port as the benchmark. Results indicate that ports with low relative efficiency suffer from input redundancy and inefficiency output, especially Rotterdam Port. This study could inform plannings and operations of seaports under the strategic background of BRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In implementing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and mixed ownership reform, China has merged its state-owned shipping companies, reorganized, and rapidly integrated them into the state shipping projects of the BRI. The economies of scale, industrial integration have led to reducing orders and declining profits of more small and medium-sized shipping companies (SMSCs), enabling large enterprises to gain 'pricing power' in the shipping market, transforming the shipping industry into a 'perfect monopoly market'. This has caused the liquidation of fixed assets and large-scale unemployment. This study aims to find innovative strategies by identifying and countering risk factors to maintain a certain market share of SMSCs. Using correlation analysis, this study ranks market, operational, financial and hazard risks by sub-factors. It rejects the hypothesis that market strategies will mediate the relationship between risk and performance. It accepts the hypothesis of operational, financial and hazard strategies mediating the relationship between risk and performance through three-step regression analysis. This study suggests that SMSCs can reduce integrated risks by strengthening flexibility and single organizational structure, and circumventing the state cultural risks of BRI. It also helps SMSCs identify potential risks and management needs to pursue sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]