Recent development of Chinese port cooperation strategies

The Chinese governments have worked out numbers of schemes at national or provincial levels to encourage port cooperation. The new geo-economic policy the Belt and Road Initiative brings new opportunities and challenges for port cooperation and development in China and the regions along the Belt and Road. This paper analyses port collaboration strategy adopted and implemented in China. It identifies the evolution of domestic port cooperation in China and the modes of international port cooperation of China. The paper concludes the trend of domestic port cooperation is towards the provincial port group. It also draws the insightful conclusion that the majority of international port cooperation cases of China happened along the Belt and Road after the year 2013. This paper proposes the implications with regard to the dynamic port cooperation development for Chinese ports and terminal operators. In theory, the research enriches the current studies by discussing the recent development systematically on port cooperation incentives and trend in China, as well as the modes of China's international port cooperation strategy. In practice, it draws implications on the performance evaluation and risks associated with Chinese port cooperation strategies.