A comparison study between the Suez canal and the Panama canal on the international container shipping

Abstract EN

In a maritime context, locations of ports have a level of accessibility, but some are more accessible than others.

Thus, some locations are perceived as more valuable than others, and more or less locations enhance the global container shipping flows than others.

Visualising the worldwide maritime flow requires understanding the flows of the shipping networks, where the Canals impact the shipping lines' choices and ports' expansion plans.

Two canals are selected for this purpose, namely the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal due to their significance in world seaborne trade and to their strategic locations.

Therefore, this paper aims to compare the influence of the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal on the international container shipping.

Graph theory in transport systems is applied as a methodology using geographic accessibility measure.

The main finding is that the Suez Canal provides a more accessibility to a higher number of dominant hub ports than the Panama Canal.