Zipf's law - data analysis

Description

The study examines the container systems of four European seaports: Antwerp (Belgium), Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Hamburg (Germany) and the Polish ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia. A database of port container system facilities was compiled (Appendix 1), including information on their number, functional classification, and surface area. This dataset served as the basis for testing the rank-size rule in each port. Official seaport websites were reviewed to collect information on container transport, associated companies, and related infrastructure, including their names, addresses, and websites: 1) port of Antwerp - https://companyguide.portofantwerpbruges.com/; 2) port of Rotterdam - https://rotterdamtransport.com/nl/branches/; 3) port of Hamburg - https://www.hafen-hamburg.de/en/port-contacts/; 4) port of Gdańsk and Gdynia - https://www.portgdansk.pl/kontakty/katalog-adresowy/. The collected data were organized and converted into CSV format, then imported into QGIS software and represented as polygons. In some cases, facility boundaries were delineated manually based on visual interpretation of orthophotos in QGIS, as well as geoportal.com and Google Maps. Using the "$area" formula in QGIS, the surface areas of the polygons (in m²) were calculated and subsequently exported to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The facilities’ surface areas were then sorted in ascending order, both globally and within each category. Next, the largest facility in each group was assigned rank (r) = 1, the second largest rank = 2, and so forth. The results indicate that the distribution of surface areas (m²) of container system components in the ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Gdańsk-Gdynia follows the rank-size rule at both local and regional scales. When this approach is applied to the spatial configuration of container system facilities within a port, and under the assumption that their distribution reflects the principle of least effort, it indicates that the rank-size framework can function as a practical instrument for assessing and guiding the allocation of investments in port container systems.

Institutions

• Gdańsk University of Technology

  Pomerania, Gdansk
• Gdynia Maritime University

  Pomerania, Gdynia

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