This paper quantifies the criticality of the world's 1300 most important ports for global supply chains by predicting the allocation of trade flows on the global maritime transport network, linking it to a global supply-chain database to evaluate port importance for the economy. It finds that 50% of global trade by value is maritime, with low-income countries and small islands disproportionately reliant on their ports. The five largest ports handle goods representing >1.4% of global output, while 40 ports contribute >10% of their serving economies' domestic output. Critical cross-border infrastructure dependencies are identified for landlocked and island countries reliant on specific ports outside their jurisdiction. The results inform strategies to enhance port infrastructure and maritime trade resilience and sustainability.

J. Verschuur, E. E. Koks, J. W. Hall