Cooperation or competition? Factors and conditions affecting regional port governance in South China
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Cooperation or competition? Factors and conditions affecting regional port governance in South China K u n Wa n g a , A d o l f K . Y. N g a , J a s m i n e S i u L e e L a m b a n d Xiaowen Fua a
Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] b Division of Infrastructure Systems and Maritime Studies, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. E-mail: [email protected]
A b s t r a c t Hong Kong is an international port heavily influenced by the ‘active noninterventionist’ policy and, until very recently, segregated from China’s national/regional planning due to its special political and economic status. However, the port is now facing considerable challenges, notably increased trade between China and overseas markets, challenges from neighbouring ports, notably Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the increasing importance of intra-Asian trade and the economic turmoil in 2008, which accelerated the industrial transformation of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in South China. Hence, Hong Kong is compelled to undergo strategic changes, notably its gradual integration into China’s national and regional planning, and to integrate itself within the PRD so as to establish a system with different PRD ports that is functionally complementary to each other. How such a newly developed regional port cluster should develop, notably the division of responsibilities of cargo flows between Hong Kong and other PRD ports, however, is still rather ambiguous. By developing a game theory model and calibrated on the basis of the PRD context, this article investigates the factors and conditions affecting regional port governance in South China, notably alliance formation for ports serving partially overlapping hinterlands. This article serves as an important step in developing an effective, fully integrated regional transportation system within the PRD, and to help it to become an efficient logistics hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2012) 14, 386–408. doi:10.1057/mel.2012.13
Keywords: port; cooperation; competition; game theory model; South China r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1479-2931 Maritime Economics & Logistics Vol. 14, 3, 386–408 www.palgrave-journals.com/mel/
Regional port governance in South China
Introduction Being part of the traditional trade-based economy, the port was historically regarded as one of the main pillars of Hong Kong’s economic development. Indeed, Hong Kong had been traditionally an international (predominantly container) port heavily influenced by the so-called ‘active non-interventionist’ (Wong, 2007), and until recently, largely isolated from China’s national and regional planning. This was mainly due to the city’s special political, economic and social status; from being a British colony to a Special Administrative Region (SAR) under China’s ‘One Country, Two Systems’ policy. Since the turn of the century, however, Hong
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