The Revealed Competitiveness of Major Ports in the East Asian Region: An Additive Market Share Analysis

ABSTRACTIn the single cargo market, the ordinary market share analysis method has been the representative tool for revealed competitiveness analysis. This paper develops and employs an applied market share index called the additive market share (AMS). Data are collected from 15 major container ports for the 1998-2013 period. In comparison to the results of an ordinary market share analysis, the highest AMS is observed for the Bohai Rim port cluster from 2008, not for the Yangtze River cluster or the Pearl River cluster. There are substitutable relationships between Yangtze River and non-Chinese ports and between Pearl River and Bohai Rim ports from 2001. Finally, there is an internal competition at Pearl River and Yangtze River ports, whereas Bohai Rim and non-Chinese ports show internally complementary relationships.