The Spatial Value and Efficiency of Inland Ports with Different Development Models: A Case Study in China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Generally speaking, this is a good paper. There are some issues to be solved before it could be accepted.

 

1. This paper discussed the spatial value and efficiency of inland ports. The spatial value and efficiency of ports are two topics. Please explain the link of the two topics in your work.

2. Why do you choose the 12 inland ports? As far as I know, Wuhan, Jiujiang etc, are also important inland ports in Central China. Why not consider it?

3. It seems that the data of 12 inland ports are from different years in table 5. The input data of the model should be from the same year.

4. How the comprehensive evaluation of the node and site values of the inland port need to be explained.

5. What are the innovative result of this work? It seems it is a simple application of NP model and DEA.

6. How the results of this work can be used need to be explained.

 

There are also some minor points you could pay attention to improve your paper.

 

1. A bit more reference is preferred.

Such as:

Yanwu Song & Hongwei Liu (2020) Internet development, economic level, and port total factor productivity: an empirical study of Yangtze River ports, International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 23:4, 375-389, DOI: 10.1080/13675567.2019.1698528;

Huang, D.; Wang, Y.; Yin, C. Selection of CO2 Emission Reduction Measures Affecting the Maximum Annual Income of a Container Ship. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11, 534. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11030534;

2. The number of the equations could be all put at the right side.

The language is more or less good.

Author Response

Dear Editors and Professor reviewers，

 

First of all, we are greatly thankful for your review of our paper and all the inspiring questions and suggestions to help us improve the paper. We have studied each individual point you gave and have done all the re-editing accordingly. Here are the detail explanations concerning the modification and re-editing we have done.

 

For the suggestions from Professor Reviewer #1:

1. This paper discussed the spatial value and efficiency of inland ports. The spatial value and efficiency of ports are two topics. Please explain the link of the two topics in your work.

Changes have been made and thank you for the question. More explanations have been made to further clarify and emphasize the linkage between the spatial value and the efficiency of inland ports.

Efficiency of an inland port here is used to measure its node value (as a hub in transportation system) contributes or effects its place value (as a facility for regional development). Please also refer to abstract, line 75-77 and line 144-149.

2. Why do you choose the 12 inland ports? As far as l know, Wuhan, Jiujiang etc, are also important inland ports in Central China. Why not consider it?

Thanks for the question. Modifications have been made to add more explanation. Please also refer to line 86-89, and line 287-294.

In this paper we use inland port cases mainly as examples to show the spatial value, relationship between node and place value, and especially its efficiency as a node in transportation system to its place value contribution in different region. Hence, we chose representative inland ports with more obvious regional differences, hoping they may produce some comparative result to explain the difference between inland port in their spatial value and their efficiency.

Inland port, by its name, originally refers to a port on an inland waterway, but today the term mainly refers to an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport, operating as a centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to or from inland destinations. 

Wuhan has inland port, which is a complex of airport, train terminal and inland water port. In Dec. 2021, part of it was listed as a national level dry port logistic park, as comparing to inland river port (https://fgw.wuhan.gov.cn/xwzx/ fgyw/202112/ t20211203_1865491.html). Jiujiang is listed as national level river port logistic park in Nov.2022 (http://www.jiangxi.gov.cn/ art/2022/11/22/art_5158_4238784.html), and it closely works with the dry ports in Ganzhou and Nanchang, but Jiujiang itself is not a dry port. Wuhan dry port national logistics hub was recently established, so we do not consider it in order to ensure the integrity of the data.

3. It seems that the data of 12 inland ports are from different years in table 5. The input data of the model should be from the same year.

More explanation has been added to make it clearer. Considering the differences of their construction year, the input data was from the years from 2016 to 2022. Please also refer to line 293-294.

4. 4. How the comprehensive evaluation of the node and site values of the inland port need to be

Detailed explanations have been provided on the measurement methods of node value and place value for inland ports. First, the selection of indicators for node value and place value is based on NP model and relevant feasible data. Secondly, considering the different standards of data, the raw data should be standardized first, and all indicators should be converted to numbers between 0 and 1. Then, the entropy method is combined to evaluate the node value and place value.

Please also refer to line 209-214、335-342.

5. 5. What are the innovative results of this work? It seems it is anapplication of NP model and 

Thanks for the question, which inspired us to make more edits and explanations to make the innovation points across to the readers better.

--This paper is the first one to discuss about the spatial value of an inland port. NP model is applied here to explain the concept of node value and place value of an inland port, while this model in literature has been applied to analyze passenger terminals, as railway or subway stations. Hence it is also the first time NP model been applied for inland port.

--The geographical scale and logistic function of an inland port are very different from passenger terminals. The evaluation of their node value and place value are also very different from the existing literature which is focused on passenger transportation. This paper is the first to quantitatively evaluate the node and place value of an inland port.

--This paper is also the first one to quantitatively explore the relationship between node value and place value, particularly to evaluate the contribution of its node value to place. In this process, the mathematical model of DEA is used here. This is another innovation of interpreting efficiency of a transportation hub on the basis of its spatial value.

Please also refer to line 188-190、430-432、450-455、464-471.

6. 6. How the results of this work can be used need to be explained.

As for the usage or contribution of this work, here are the possible contributions from this study in academic and practical perspective.

• Academic and theoretical wise,

--it is the first to discuss concept of the spatial value of inland port using NP model. Hence it is a theoretical expansion of NP model and its application in inland port.

--As it is the first one of quantitative measurement of the node and place value of inland port, it is another innovative trial.

   --It evaluates the efficiency of inland port on the base of its spatial value, particularly the contribution of node value to place value. It is a new academic innovation.

• In practice——

--The Study inspires attention to its role as a transportation hub for regional development, and focuses on the efficiency of inland ports, its contribution to local and regional development, with consideration to some factors.

--By separating node value from place value, and measuring their relationship, it inspires people to consider the possible conflict between the two values or effects, and possible different effects from various policies. For example, when a seaport company invests in an inland port, it is more focused on its node value, and its efficiency of how much and how fast it can bring cargo to the seaport. The local governments of the inland port are far more interested with how efficient it can be to help develop the area.

--With the consideration of these differences of interests, and the future emphasis of using inland port to drive local development, it may inspire further discussion, to bring in multi-stakeholders, or policy innovation targeting at improving the efficiency of spatial value.  

Please also refer to the abstract and part 5 (Discussion).

 

7. 7. A bit more reference is preferred.

Modification made. Five more references have been added. 

 

8. The number of the equations could be all put at the right side.

Modifications have been made to put the number of the equations at the right side of the page.

 

We would like to thank the editors and reviewers for your time in helping us improve the quality of the paper. If you have any further comments, please let us know. I wish you good health and success in your work.

 

Sincerely yours,

the corresponding author

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Tables 3,4 and 6 must be edited and justifed 

Equation (1) needs more accuracy to be min{theta a,...}

Most of the refrences are outdated (authors have 53 refrences only 16 are from 2018 and beyond)

Also the optomization methdology is not investigated and or illustrated the authors just gave equation one with some constraines and then find the output ad discussion.

Mathematical model must be more explained and state why such model is choosen and how couldwe solve it

Finaly, the data is not homognitychoosen, due the difernce in each inand port so some sort of normalization will improve the compartive analysis (to be on the same bases)

Authors arre required to provide validation of the obained results by means of previously published wos or practical measurments 

english lang is ok

Author Response

Dear Professor Editor and Professor reviewer,

 

First of all, we are greatly thankful for your review of our paper and all the suggestions to help us improve the paper. We have studied each individual point you gave and have done all the re-editing accordingly. Here are the detail explanations concerning the modification and re-editing we have done.

 

For the suggestions from Professor Reviewer #2:

1.Tables 3,4 and 6 must be edited and justified.

Edits made.

--We have left justified these three tables mentioned here, and the others also.

--We added both the presentation and calculation method of the indicators in Table 3.

--We added the units of the indicators in Table 4, and the units of the distance to the seaport in Table 6. And further explanations are given in the paper on the rationalization of the selection of indicators.（please also refer to Tables 3,4 and 6）

2. Equation (1)needs more accuracy to be min{theta a,...}

Edits made. Equation (1) has been edited to be more accurate, and further explanation has been given about the symbols in Part 3.2.（please also refer to line 279、282-285）

3. Most of the references are outdated (authors have 53 references, only 16 are from 2018 and beyond)

Edits made. The references have been updated, by deleting some old ones and adding some recent references, although keeping some classical ones.（For your reference, there are 29 of the total references are from 2018 and beyond.）

4. The optimization methodology is not investigated and or illustrated the authors just gave equation one with some constraines and then find the output ad discussion. Mathematical model must be more explained and state why such model is choosen and how could we solve it.

Edits made. Thank you for the suggestion about needing more explanation, and detail guidance about how we shall add explanation for the mathematical model.

--First, in the more specific explanation of the mathematical models, some supporting literature has been provided to ensure the rationality of the selection of the relevant indicators. Concerning the mathematical model of DEA, we use it to measure the efficiency of the inland port, and link the efficiency with the node value and place value by defining the efficiency as the contribution level of node value to its place value.

--Secondly, one of the reasons for the selection of these models is that according to the literature it is known that the NP model can be applied to the study of the spatial value of transportation nodes, but mostly applied to metro stations or urban railway stations. In this paper it is applied to the study of inland ports, which are very different from these two types of transportation nodes——which is one of the innovations of this paper.

--The third point is about how to solve the model. Based on the literature review of the model, this paper explains the interpretation of the indicators corresponding to every parts of the mathematical model.（please also refer to line 209-214、243-246、253-258 and 336-342）

5. The data is not homognity choosen, due the difference in each inland port so some sort of normalization will improve the comparative analysis (to be on the same bases).

Edits are made concerning the data homogeneity and normalization to improve the analysis. Taking into account the variability of the data and the different sources, the standardization method was used to standardize the raw data so that the results fell into the [0, 1] interval, and combined with the entropy weighting method to calculate the weights of each indicator. Subsequently, the evaluation levels for node value and place value corresponding to each inland port can be obtained.（please also refer to line 336-342）

6. Authors are required to provide validation of the obtained results by means of previously published wos or practical measurements.

Edits are made concerning result validation.

--First of all, the obtained result about the place value of the inland port, which has good consistency of the regional economic effects of inland port from the research result of reference 29, 30 and 31.

--Secondly, the obtained result shows that the inland ports in Northeast China have lower spatial value, both of node and place value, which is in consistent with the real situation there.

--Thirdly, we try to apply the obtained result for practical measurements, as to improve the spatial value of the inland port. For example, for the port group, it pays more attention to the node value of inland ports, i.e., the efficiency of ports, but local governments pay more attention to the economic driving role of inland ports for cities and regions, i.e. the importance of the place value of inland ports. With the two competing goals, there may be conflicts. However, in the near future using inland ports to drive regional development is the focus of attention. (Please also refer to line 430-432、451-455、464-471)

 

We would like to thank the editors and reviewers for your time in helping us improve the quality of the paper. If you have any further comments, please let us know. I wish you good health and success in your work!

 

Sincerely Yours,

the corresponding author

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript is much better than the first version.

Author Response

Thank you again. I wish you good health and success in your work.

Reviewer 2 Report

Validation is not clear

Quality of English Language may be improved

Author Response

Dear Professor Editor and Professor reviewer,

 

We are greatly thankful for your second review of our paper and all the suggestions to help us improve the paper. We have studied each individual point you gave and have done carefully revision accordingly. Here are the detail explanations concerning the modification we have done.

Comment--Validation is not clear

 A lot of modifications have been made in Part 4 Result. We have referred to one of the reviewer #2’s last round comments about validation of the obtained results.

• In Part 4 Result are more clearly and succinctly
• More validations are provided with previouslypublished literatures, and with practical examples and real situation about the 12 cases.

Please refer to the highlighted lines in Part 4.

 

Other modifications we have done-

• About references—

--We have checked all references, and have deleted two references which are not closely relevant to the contents of the manuscript.

   --In research result part, we provide more validations with some references.

  2) About language—

We have done more proof reading with some help from a native English writer, and have made improvement of the language.

 

Thank you again. If you have any further comments, please let us know. I wish you good health and success in your work.

 

Sincerely Yours,

The corresponding author

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf