Network diversity and maritime flows

Coupled and interdependent networks constitute a relatively recent research field that has been so far little invested by port and maritime specialists. The extent to which certain ports benefit from being connected to multiple commodity flows in the maritime network has in fact been poorly addressed. A global database of merchant vessel inter-port movements that occurred in October and November 2004 allows building the respective weighted graphs of solid bulk, liquid bulk, container, general cargo, and passenger/vehicles. Main results underline a very strong influence of commodity diversity on the distribution of maritime traffics among ports and links between them. The research also underlines the role of different regional settings in the specialization of traffic flows.