Empirical analysis of the ship-transport network of China

Abstract: Structural properties of the ship-transport network of China (STNC) are studied in the light of recent investigations of complex networks. STNC is composed of a set of routes and ports located along the sea or river. Network properties including the degree distribution, degree correlations, clustering, shortest path length, centrality and betweenness are studied in different definition of network topology. It is found that geographical constraint plays an important role in the network topology of STNC. We also study the traffic flow of STNC based on the weighted network representation, and demonstrate the weight distribution can be described by power law or exponential function depending on the assumed definition of network topology. Other features related to STNC are also investigated.