• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.103-119
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• 2021

Ports in Korea have been increasing in terms of volume while they have performed functions and roles such as industrial ports in promoting industries of their hinterlands as well as commercial ports supporting imports and exports. Nevertheless, specialization degree is different from port to port by cargo type and the changes in cargo volume. This study aims to analyze the structural changes and the degree of concentration and specialization by cargo type and port between 2001 and 2020. Top 10 ports were analyzed in terms of traffic volume by categorizing liquid, dry, general cargo and containers. HHI(Herfindahl-Hirschman Index), LQ(Location Coefficient), and shift-share analysis were employed in order to identify the degree of concentration, specialization and changes in cargo volume by port and cargo type. As a result of the analysis, the degree of port concentration and specialization for each cargo of 4 categories have maintained a high level, and no significant difference were found in fluctuations over the past 20 years. As a result of calculating the flucation of cargo volume through the shift-share analysis, the growth rate of liquid cargo was high in Yeosu Gwangyang Port, Pyeongtaek Dangjin Port in dry cargo, and Busan Port in general cargo and container ports. The result implies that it is not expected that the structural changes including degree of cargo concentration, specialization and relative fluctuation of cargo volume is significant in Korean ports in the future since the effects of economies of scale and clustering were achieved to the great degree.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2004

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the degree of cargo concentration at Korean ports using Theil's Entropy and to compare the results with those of Gini coefficient, Hoyle(1983), and Hirshmann-Herfindahl models. The entropy indices were compared with other models after measuring the cargo concentration for the period of 1981-2000 among the 18 Korean ports. The core results of empirical analysis are as follows: first, the empirical results of entropy indices show the following trends: all the ports(concentration except 1996's slight deconcentration), ports in Western area(deconcentration in 1990s and slight concentration in 2000), ports in Southern area(deconcentration in 1980s and 1990s except concentration in 2000), and ports in Eastern area(continuous trends of concentration). However, competition power will be decreased if concentration is increased, because of the character of entropy index. The empirical results of 4 indices except Hoyle model show the comparatively same directions in terms of trends. This study found out the similar results among the following models: All the ports(entropy index & Gini coefficient & H-H model), ports in Western area(Entropy index &Hoyle model), ports in Southern area(Entropy index & Gini coefficient), and ports in Eastern area(Entropy index & H-H index).The policy planner of Korean ports should find out the determination factors of concentration and deconcentration of each ports and decide the investment priority, size and scope for balancing the development of regional ports.