Inside the pond: an analysis of Northeast Asia’s long-term maritime dynamics

The analysis of historical vessel movements is proposed in this paper to compare recent Northeast Asian port and maritime dynamics with previous development stages back to the late nineteenth century. The changing distribution of vessel calls at and between Northeast Asian ports reveals important shifts of maritime connectivity over time, from the emergence of Japan as the dominant player in the region to a present-day more complex pattern with Hong Kong, Busan, and Shanghai as the major hubs. The analysis also underlines the uneven importance of domestic, intraregional, and extraregional flows as well as the existence of localized, peripheral subnetworks including small and medium-sized ports.