Hub Status and Indexation of Container Ports

Although ports play a traditional role as loading and connecting centers for cargo and passengers, container ports as intermodal junctions have undergone continuous and diverse changes since the late 1950s as a result of technological advancements and transport network expansion. In order to shed light on the port transformation process, the objective of the present paper is to develop a hub index for container ports to evaluate the hub status of container ports within shipping networks, inland networks, and various logistics services.This study develops two sub-indexes of port classification and capacity, and combines cases of these two sub-indexes into various types in order to find a proper port hub index. The paper demonstrates how different types of port hub index are useful measurements for evaluating outputs and inputs of container ports. In a case analysis we show that the indexes of period variables and lagged variables have more explanatory power with regard to changes of port throughputs and high correlation with inputs.