Tarkhov S.A. Formation and structure of the Ningbo Zhoushan port cluster

Abstract

The main geographical parameters of the port cluster are determined using the example of the world‘s
largest port of Ningbo Zhoushan (PRC). An increase in the draft depth of ships and the size of their carrying capacity led to a shift of ports to deep-water areas, and, as a consequence, a fundamental change in the spatial distribution of ports, the emergence of new forms of their concentration – port agglomerations (dense assemblage of ports in nearby waters) and port clusters (their dispersed accumulation). The main differences between a port cluster and a port agglomeration, identified through the analysis of the functional and morphological structure of the Ningbo Zhoushan port, are its very complex functional and spatial-morphological composition, relatively large distances between its individual elements (on average from 16 km to 68 km at maximum values 120–207 km) and a unified institutional structure (unified port authority). Cartometrically identified 11 multifunctional (2–7 different groups of cargo are combined) and 19 monofunctional port zones (30 in total), in which 68 port terminals and points are concentrated. The following spatial stages of expansion of this port cluster have been identified: 1) extension of the port area in the form of a strip from west to east, covering neighboring islands; 2) the emergence of highly specialized terminals on the sparsely populated islands of the Zhoushan archipelago, isolated from the main port arc and very remote from the main port core of Ningbo (80–100 km); 3) further extension of the main port strip to the south.

Financing
The study was carried out within the framework of the topic of the State Assignment of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Socio-economic space of Russia in the context of global transformations: internal and external challenges" No. 124032900015-3 (FMWS-2024-0008).