Within research on world cities, much attention has been paid to advanced producer services (APS) and their role within both global urban hierarchies and network formation between cities. What is largely ignored is that these APS provide services to firms operating in a range of different sectors. Does sector-specific specialisation of advanced producer services influence the economic geography of corporate networks between cities? If so, what factors might explain this geographical pattern? This paper investigates these theoretical questions by empirically focusing on those advanced producer services related to the port and maritime sector. The empirical results show that the location of AMPS is correlated with maritime localisation economies, expressed in the presence of shipowners and port-related industry as well as APS in general, but not by throughput flows of ports. Based upon the findings, policy recommendations are addressed.

In this paper, the notion of the labour market is discussed within the context of international migration of skilled labour in the accountancy industry. The principal arguments reported are that the labour-market practices of large accountancy firms have restructured the demand for professional labour on a global scale. Accounting staff are subcontracted to their firm's international office networks or multinational clients through secondment, transfer, or exchange procedures. Equally, those firms who are members of global accountancy networks subcontract their staff to the international independent member firms.

Taiwan and the Chinese mainland face each other across the sea, and maritime transport is the most important means for the exchange of goods between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. Affected by international politics and trade patterns, since the middle and late 19th century, the transportation links between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits have changed dramatically. Using the O-D data of vessels transiting between ports from the Lloyd's database between 1895 and 2008, we studied the changes in the transport links between ports on both sides of the Taiwan Straits at the national and global scales. The analysis concludes as follows: (1) Since before the beginning of modern times until Taiwan was ceded to Japan, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland had island-land relations, and Xiamen Port was the most important transit port to Taiwan. After the Japanese occupation, Taiwan became Japan's source of raw materials and a location in which to sell Japan's goods, and Taiwan, Japan, and the Chinese mainland were forming triangular transportation links. After the confrontation between the two sides of the strait, the United States intervened in the Taiwan Straits, and the transportation links between the ports on both sides of the Taiwan Straits were cut off. Taiwan, the United States, and Japan formed a triangular trade network. After 1979, Hong Kong Port became the most important transit port for cross-strait transport links. After direct flights across the Taiwan Straits were instituted, the port transportation links between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland continued to expand in breadth and depth. (2) Taiwan has obvious advantages in location, but because it is an island, the hinterland is narrow. Therefore, making full use of regional and geopolitical advantages, using the regional economic growth centre as its own foreland and forming a close sea transportation link is key to Taiwan's sustained economic development. Improving relations with the mainland, sharing in opportunities for the development of the mainland, and promoting the transport links between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits are opportunities for Taiwan.

台湾地区与中国大陆隔海相望,海上运输是两岸间货物往来的最主要方式。受国际政治和贸易模式的影响,从19世纪中后期以来,两岸港口运输联系变化剧烈。利用劳合社（Lloyd's）1895-2016年两岸港口间航线的O-D数据,从国家层面和全球层面研究海峡两岸港口运输联系的变化。主要结论为：① 近代开埠至割让给日本之前,台湾地区与大陆的海运联系紧密,厦门港是台湾地区最重要的中转港;日据之后,台湾地区成为日本的原料来源地和商品销售地,台湾地区—日本—中国大陆形成三角运输联系;两岸对峙后,两岸港口运输联系切断,台湾地区—美国—日本形成三角贸易网络;1979年后,香港港成为两岸运输联系的最重要中转港,两岸直航后,台湾地区与大陆间的港口运输联系在广度和深度上不断拓展。② 台湾地区区位优势明显,但由于是海岛,陆向腹地狭小,因此充分利用区位优势和地缘优势,把区域经济增长中心作为自身的海向腹地,以形成紧密的海上运输联系是台湾地区经济持续发展的关键。改善与中国大陆之间的关系、分享中国大陆发展的机遇、推动海峡两岸的港口运输联系是台湾地区的“天时”与“人和”。

This article examines such port competitiveness from the perspective of port efficiency and supply chains. Specifically, studies are examined that investigate port competitiveness from the traditional perspective and from the chain perspective. In doing so, methodological problems of the literature in investigating port competitiveness are deduced.

The roles of a port are of importance in the local economy, which has drawn attentions in the many studies. Yet there are relatively few studies on the port service industries. The spatial characters and associated mechanism of the port service industries in Guangzhou were focused on. The pot service industries in Guangzhou wase highly spatial concentrated and Zhujiang-dependence. The spatial concentrating was steady while the shifting of enterprises was very frequent. The spatial distribution of the port service industries varied greatly with the different type. In general, it was apt to be concentrated to the trading port and the CBD. The spatial character is an synthesized outcome of the location, the nature of the industries, the evolution of the port spatial system, the urban planning influences and innovation of ICT.

The maritime service industry has become a key driving force for promoting the spatial structure adjustment and economic development of port cities and is also a core element for enhancing the global competitiveness of hub port cities. Based on the chain network model, the regression model and the list of British Lloyd's Maritime Enterprises, this paper studies the spatial shaping process of the node cities and inter-city links in the global advanced maritime service industry in 1982-2018. The study analyzes the relevance between the connectivity or the number of advanced maritime service producers in the node cities and the shipping, economic, political and cultural location factors. The analysis concludes as follows: (1) Advanced maritime service producers mainly gather in Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia-Pacific region. The east-west market formed by these three regions is the main line of the global advanced maritime service industry. The main spatial pattern changes from "T" shape to triangle. The barycenter of the network is constantly moving eastward and has moved from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region. (2) The network status of the node city is closely related to the strength of the connection between this node city and the top cities and has nothing to do with the extensiveness of the city connection. Node cities can quickly improve their strategic position by establishing strong links with international shipping service centers. (3) The location of the advanced maritime service industry is mainly influenced by capital, technology and market. Its layout is close to customers and markets. These three factors also affect the strength of the aggregation effect of high-end shipping service industry activities. The advanced maritime service industry tends to be knowledge-intensive. (4) With the influence of economic globalization and technological progress, the significance of the relevance between container throughput or regional economy and the layout of the advanced maritime service industry has increased. The significance of the population, ports and administrative centers disappear. The research results reveal the enlightenment and experience of the space-time evolution of the global advanced maritime service industry and provide useful references for the efficient development of international shipping service centers.

发展高端航运服务业是港口城市产业转型的重要着力点。基于劳合社海事企业名录,利用连锁网络、回归模型等,研究1982—2018年全球高端航运服务业节点城市和城际联系的空间演变及影响因素。结果表明：① 全球高端航运服务业骨架由“T”字型向“大三角形”转变,网络重心不断东移,欧洲、地中海和亚太地区构成的东西向市场是其发展主线。② 节点城市的网络地位提升与该城市和前序城市建立的联系强度有密切关系,与覆盖的市场范围联系不大。③ 高端航运服务业的区位选择主要受资本、技术和市场的共同影响,其布局临近客户和市场,倾向于知识密集型的产业集聚。④ 集装箱吞吐量和地区宏观经济对高端航运服务业布局的显著性增强,人口数量、港口和行政中心的显著性消失。

Under the initiative of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China should change from a large shipping country to a strong shipping country, and the development of maritime producer services, especially high-end maritime producer services, is of great significance to the consolidation and promotion of ports’ status and function in China. Based on the Taylor’s Network Interlock Model, using the distribution of 103 multinational corporations in 7 different types of maritime producer services in 1054 cities along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a database is constructed to calculate the network characteristics. Studying the network structure of the maritime producer services which along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. And exploring whether the maritime producer services will also migrate after the migration of container transportation to East Asia. The results show that: 1) The maritime producer services is mainly concentrated in a few important node cities. The hierarchy characteristics of the maritime producer services network are obvious. The first-layer cities are Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Dubai. Their relative network connection values are 1.00, 0.98, 0.89, 0.88, 0.86, which are much higher than other cities. Simultaneously the first two layers are all Asian cities, which shows that the maritime producer services in Asian is becoming more and more important. 2) The maritime producer services in Europe is numerous and has obvious agglomeration characteristics. The maritime producer services in Asia is mainly distributed along the coastline in the shape of a strip. At the level of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the links among London, Hong Kong and Singapore constitute a big triangle. At the Chinese level, the links among Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing constitute a small triangle. This network structure has emerged in recent years and shows the rapid development of maritime producer services in Chinese cities. 3) From the perspective of spatial distribution, maritime producer services are most densely distributed in Europe, East Asia and Southeast Asia. High-end maritime producer services are mainly concentrated in European cities which are mainly capitals or economic centers. Asian cities play an important role in the mid-end maritime producer services, especially in the freight forwarding industry. A total of 13 Asian cities rank in the top 20, indicating that as the center of gravity of global shipping moves to Asia, and the center of gravity of freight forwarding industry also moves to Asia. In terms of low-end maritime producer services, African cities have performed prominently in warehousing services, while Asian and European cities play an important role in shipbuilding. 4) High-end maritime producer services are often influenced by the city’s history, culture, language, and political system. It is rooted in the local area and tends to be in the capital and other inland cities. The middle and low-end maritime producer services, which is mainly dependent on the transportation, is greatly influenced by the factors such as natural conditions and location conditions. It tends to transfer with the transportation and tends to be distributed in the port city.

在“一带一路”倡议下，发展航运服务业对于巩固与提升中国在全球航运网络中的地位具有重要意义。构建103家跨国公司在“21世纪海上丝绸之路（海丝之路）”沿线1 054个城市的分布数据库，分析7种航运服务业在“海丝之路”沿线的网络特征。研究表明：① “海丝之路”沿线航运服务业网络的层级分布特征明显，处于第一层级的均为亚洲城市，说明亚洲航运服务业在航运服务业网络中地位重要。② 在“海丝之路”这一层面，伦敦、香港、新加坡等城市和地区构成大的联系三角，在中国层面，上海、香港、北京构成小的联系三角。③ 高端航运服务业主要分布在欧洲城市，亚洲城市在中端航运服务业方面占据重要地位，在低端航运服务业方面，非洲城市在仓储服务业表现突出，亚洲和欧洲城市则在船舶修造业实力雄厚。④ 高端航运服务业往往受城市的历史、文化、语言、法律、制度影响较大，对地方的根植性较强，倾向于首都等内陆城市，而中低端航运服务业主要依托于货物运输，受自然条件和区位条件等因素的影响较大，往往随货物运输转移而转移，倾向于分布在港口城市。

This article aims to review the structural transformation in the container shipping industry from 1995 to 2020 and identify the growth strategies of global carriers to enhance their market presence. Along with large investments in mega vessels, the growing deployment of charter capacity in all ship sectors has been a prominent trend in fleet expansion. The waves of mergers/acquisitions and bankruptcies have narrowed the group of global carriers. In addition to internal and external growth, they have been increasingly involved in strategic alliances to expand service coverage and compete well with powerful rivals. A few mega carriers have progressively captured the industry. In 2020, the Top 12 controlled 88 % of the global supply, and nearly 56 % was in the hands of the Top 4. Besides the substantial expansion of the four biggest carriers, we can identify the de-concentration within this gigantic group through the less inequality between their market shares.

Blockchain is one of the technologies that can support digital transformation in industries in many aspects. This sophisticated technology can provide a decentralized, transparent, and secure environment for organizations and businesses. This review article discusses the adoption of blockchain in the ports and shipping industry to support digital transformation. It also explores the integration of this technology into the current ports and shipping ecosystem. Besides, the study highlighted the situation of the supply chains management in ports and shipping domain as a case study in this field. The investigated studies show that blockchain can be integrated into processes such as financial and document workflow. This review contributes to research by focusing on the adoption of blockchain in the ports and shipping industry to support digital transformation. It also aims to understand the existing port practice and map it with current tendencies based on blockchain. This study gives insight analysis to incorporate blockchain technology into ports and shipping processes globally.

Taking 47 major port cities of China from 2001 to 2015 as a sample, this article discusses the characteristics of rank-size, analyzes the hierarchical structure and divides functional coupling types based on the shipping logistics function of coastal port city system from a multifunctional perspective by using the law of rank-size. Some interesting conclusions were obtained. Firstly, from 2001 to 2015, the manufacturing industry function of coastal port city system was divided into double fractal structures and other functions were single fractal. After long-term evolution, the shipping logistics function of rank-size distribution tends to be balanced, and the commercial and trade function, the manufacturing industry function (non-scale areas one), the modern service function and the population migration function all tend to be centralized. Secondly, the hierarchical structure of coastal port city system is in pyramid mode, but the shape is changing towards a spindle structure gradually. And it generally forms 5 levels which are national pivotal, regional pivotal, regional sub-center, regional node and local node. Thirdly, from the multifunctional coupling type, the traditional functions of the port city are generally advanced and the high-end service functions are lagging behind. The urban function shows a slow and gentle development state. It shows that the multifunctional development of China's coastal port cities is still at a low level and the industrial system structure needs to be further optimized. Finally, the functions of regional pivotal and regional sub-center cities are all in the stage of rapid growth. Regional nodes and local nodes cities are still in the growth stage of traditional functions such as industry and trade.

运用位序规模法则，以2001—2015年中国47个主要港口城市为研究样本，探讨多功能视角的沿海港口城市体系位序规模特征及其层级结构，以航运物流为基础功能划分其多功能发展的耦合类型。研究表明：① 2001—2015年，沿海港口城市体系中制造业功能位序规模分布的无标度区出现双分形结构，层级分割特征显现，其余功能则为单分形；从长期演化看，仅航运物流功能位序规模分布由集中化向均衡化发展，商贸功能、制造业功能（无标度区一）、现代服务功能和人口集散功能则处于集中化态势。② 沿海港口城市体系层级结构由金字塔结构逐步向纺锤状结构过渡，普遍形成了全国性枢纽、区域性枢纽、区域性副中心、区域性节点与地方性节点5个层级。③ 从多功能耦合类型看，港口城市传统功能普遍超前而高端服务功能滞后，城市类功能提升速度较慢且趋于平缓，表明中国沿海港口城市多功能发展仍处于低水平，产业体系结构有待进一步优化。④ 从不同层级港口城市来看，区域性枢纽城市、区域性副中心城市各功能均处于快速增长阶段；区域性节点和地方性节点城市则仍处在工业和商贸等传统功能增长阶段。

The roles of a port are of importance in the local economy, which has drawn attentions in the many studies. Yet there are relatively few studies on the port service industries. The spatial characters and associated mechanism of the port service industries in Guangzhou were focused on. The pot service industries in Guangzhou wase highly spatial concentrated and Zhujiang-dependence. The spatial concentrating was steady while the shifting of enterprises was very frequent. The spatial distribution of the port service industries varied greatly with the different type. In general, it was apt to be concentrated to the trading port and the CBD. The spatial character is an synthesized outcome of the location, the nature of the industries, the evolution of the port spatial system, the urban planning influences and innovation of ICT.

The shipping service industry is not only the focus for Shanghai to build an international shipping center, but also an important industry to participate in the global city competition. Based on the data of shipping service enterprises (organization) in 1992, 2005 and 2019, this paper studies the spatial distribution and functional evolution of shipping service industry by means of weighted Kernel density analysis, nearest neighbor index and keyword co-occurance analysis. The results show that the distribution mode of the shipping service industry in Shanghai tends to aggregate as whole. The evolution of the spatial distribution has changed from the contiguous distribution along the urban rivers to the multi location and multi-core of industrial parks, ports and urban CBD. From the perspective of the functional evolution of shipping service industry, the composition of important function units is stable, and warehousing has occupied the first place. Emerging function units switch frequently, the burst strength of container transportation, e-commerce and ship techniques are high. At present, seven function unit clusters have formed, which are climbing along the value chain. Traditional port and shipping industry, financial industry and information industry are the key hub industries to connect clusters. Function diversification has a heterogeneous demand for resource bundles, and the spatial distribution of resources is not balanced. The dynamic adjustment and matching of the both is the fundamental reason for the formation of spatial distribution and functional evolution.

采用1992年、2005年、2019年上海市存续航运服务企业（组织）数据，运用加权核密度、最近邻指数以及关键词共现网络，研究其空间分布及功能演变，结果表明：上海市航运服务业的空间分布总体趋于集聚，早期沿城市内河形成连片分布，后向工业园、港口及城市CBD等多区位、多核心转变。从功能演变来看，重要功能元构成长期稳定，仓储保持首位。新兴功能元发展持续性不足，电子商务、集装箱运输、船舶技术突变强度高。已形成7个功能元聚类，呈价值链攀升态势。传统港航业、金融业及信息业是功能元聚类形成的关键行业。功能多元化对资源组合需求异质化，而资源在空间分布不均衡，两者动态调整匹配是空间分布及功能形成演变的根本原因。

Shipping enterprises are the organizers of container transportation. Their choice of routes and ports directly affects the construction of container network. In this paper, using the schedule data, 18 of the top 20 shipping enterprises are selected as the research objects to analyze the similarities and differences of their route network patterns, and to explore the influencing factors of their route configuration. We can find that, the route network of each enterprise has the characteristics of small world and scale-free, which means that it is controlled by a small number of highly connected hub ports. East Asia is the primary agglomeration area for each company’s schedule. Singapore, Shenzhen, Busan, Hong Kong and Shanghai occupy an important position in the route network of each company. And the enterprise route network shows a certain hub-and-spoke feature, which is a hybrid network where the hub-and-spoke connection and the point-to-point connection coexist. The differences of their networks are as follows: the market coverage and depth of each enterprise varies greatly, shipping giants such as Maersk and Mediterranean take both breadth and depth into account, CMA CGM and ZIM focus on market breadth, while Korea Marine Transport Company and Hamburg Sud tend to dig deep into the regional market; there are large differences in the spatial distribution of each company’s schedule, according to which, the shipping enterprises can be divided into four types, and as one of the types, Korea Marine Transport Company, Hamburg Sud, United Arab Shipping Company and Wan Hai Lines focus on specific regional market segments; the hub ports chosen by shipping enterprises are quite different, and some enterprises such as Korea Marine Transport Company and United Arab Shipping Company have their own hub ports that are not global hubs. The route configuration of shipping enterprises is affected by a variety of factors, such as source of goods of port hinterland, natural conditions and operation efficiency of ports, maritime protection policy, and enterprise scale and port investment. This study enriches the theory of transport geography, and reveals the route organization mode of shipping enterprises, which can provide guidance for the decision-making by port managers.

采用船期表数据,以全球前20位航运企业中的18家为研究对象,剖析各企业航线网络的异同点,并探讨企业航线配置的影响因素。研究表明：各企业航线网络均具有小世界和无标度特征,东亚是航班的首要集聚区,并且均为轴辐连接与点对点连接并存的混合式网络;各企业航线网络的市场广度和深度各异,根据航班的空间分布特征可将企业划分为4种类型,其中高丽海运、汉堡南美、阿拉伯轮船和万海航运专注于特定区域的细分市场,且拥有不同于全球枢纽港的企业枢纽港;港口腹地货源、港口自然条件及作业效率、海运保护政策、企业自身能力等是影响企业航线布局的重要因素。本研究有助于揭示航运企业的航线组织模式,为港口管理者决策提供参考。

The dependence on the South China Sea for international trade in container transport has increased over time, with Asian foreign trade relying on the South China Sea transport corridor for 65% of all trade. Hence, accurate measurement of the vulnerability of ports in the South China Sea and assessment of the impact of port inoperability in the ASEAN region on different Chinese ports is necessary for China's shipping security assessment. This paper collects the container route data published by the shipping company network in 2018 to construct the container shipping network of ports around the South China Sea, and carries out the research on the vulnerability of the network and the evaluation of the impact on China through the methods of network node index and shortest path simulation. The conclusions of the study are as follows: South Sea shipping is weakly resilient to disruption. The failure of 15%-25% of the head ports would be a materially disruptive effect on the overall organization of the shipping network. Pusan and Singapore are the ports in need of priority protection in the region, while Haiphong, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tokyo, Surabaya, Yokohama, and Kobe are highly vulnerable in the region. When a hub port breaks down and stops running to handle cargo, there are few alternative ports that meet the three conditions of geographical proximity, betweenness centrality growth, and the same transport capacity. The shortest path is used to simulate Chinese port calls to ASEAN ports in the South China Sea corridor. Singapore and Port Klang were found to be the two major ports with a global influence on China's coastal ports. Laem Chabang, Manila, Cebu, San Fernando, and Haiphong have regional impacts. By assessing the vulnerability of ports in the South China Sea and trying to delineate the spatial extent of the impact of port failures, this paper complements the spatial study of vulnerability and makes suggestions and recommendations for the security strategy of shipping in the South China Sea.

随着中国对外贸易的发展，南海在中国对外运输中的重要性不断提升，评估南海周边航运网络失效对中国不同港口的影响程度十分必要。以2018年前18强船公司的集装箱航线数据为基础，构建南海周边港口的集装箱航运网络，通过网络节点指标、最短路径模拟等方法测度网络的脆弱性，并分析南海周边港口失效对中国的影响。全文主要结论如下：南海航运的抗毁性较弱，15%~25%的头部港口失效对整体航运网络组织会产生实质性的毁坏；釜山和新加坡是本区域最重要的港口，海防、上海、青岛、东京、泗水、横滨、神户等在区域中具有高脆弱性；评估港口失效后的替代港口方案，发现替代集装箱港口的可选择范围很小，很少有港口失效后能同时满足地理临近、介数增长和能力相当三大条件，在海上航运网络中港口失效带来的影响是难以修补的；以最短路径模拟中国港口对南海周边其他港口的挂靠情况，发现新加坡、巴生和釜山是对中国具有全局影响力的三大港口，林查班、马尼拉、宿务、圣费尔南多、海防等对其他港口具有点对点的局域影响。