Market Area Analysis of Ports in Japan

This study reviews port cargo flow structure on hinterland/foreland (i.e. shippers' port use propensity) in Japan to examine port policy. Port service areas are analysed by conducting fuzzy clustering for 47 prefectures in Japan. Container cargo flow survey data from 1988 to 2008 at five-year intervals are used. Clusters of shippers' use of ports are discussed; that is, shippers' groups are determined using export/import handling cargo data on the basis of weight, cross section, and time series. The share changes of major Japanese ports for handling international container cargo indicated that only the Kobe port experienced significant volume reduction. However, port market areas have greatly changed in the last 20 years. Major ports lost shares of neighbouring market areas and gained small shares of remote areas (i.e. from regional ports). In contrast, regional ports groups expanded their market area beyond their regional areas. These structural changes to port market area differ between export and import cargo. For example, the Kyushu ports group lost significant market area in the Kyushu region on import cargo, but expanded them on export cargo in some prefectures in the Kyushu region.