Trade route 11: Methods to assess port exchanges of maritime containerized cargo flows

Although maritime commodity flow analyses have received a fair amount of attention in geographic literature, previous studies have emphasized flows originating at or destined for a single reference point or nation state. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate several procedures for ordering and grouping port facilities based upon the magnitude and the direction of flows of containers between them. Thus, the interactive elements of an individual portion of the worldwide container system—a trade route—can be measured and load center development can be appraised.