Impact of coupling coordination development of port and city environments on urban economic competitiveness:Evidence from the coastal port cities in eastern China

Promoting the coupling coordination development of port and its hinterland city environments is an important way to improve urban economic competitiveness.Based on relevant data of 13 coastal port cities in eastern China from 2000 to 2018,this study explores the coupling coordination development of port and city environments and its impact on urban economic competitiveness by constructing the coupling coordination degree model and the panel threshold model.The research results show that:(1)In terms of the coupling coordination development of port and city environments,most coastal ports and their hinterland cities are in a state of moderate or serious disorder.Overall,the degree of coupling coordination of port and city environments needs to be further improved;(2)The coupling coordination degree of port and city environments has a significant impact on urban economic competitiveness,and this effect gradually increases with the development of the ports and the urban economy.Among the variables that impact the urban economic competitiveness,fixed assets investment and foreign trade are significant factors that can enhance urban economic competitiveness.(3)At present,there is a“U-shaped”relationship between the coupling coordination degree of port-city environments and the urban economic competitiveness.This relationship lies on the right side of the inflection point of the“U-shaped”curve.Therefore,following the concept of assigning priority to ecological development,expanding fixed assets investment and actively developing foreign trade can further enhance the urban economic competitiveness.

Spatial evolution of coal transportation at coastal ports in China

Coal is a basic resource and its use guarantees the development of national economies and human society. Thus, coal transportation is an important part of China's overall transportation system. In this system, ports are the vital transit nodes. This study considered coastal ports in China and analysed the evolution of coal transportation from 1973 to 2013. We focused on the spatial pattern of coal loading and unloading, and summarized the main characteristics and development of the processes. Then, we examined the volumes of coal transported and regional changes in these amounts using mathematical models and indicators. Finally, we analysed the specialized function and spatial differentiation of the ports involved in coal transportation to reveal their spatial relationship and temporal evolution. We found that the spatial pattern of coal transportation changed from "south input and north output" to "all input and north output". However, the prominent ports used for coal unloading are still concentrated in areas south of the Yangtze River. Coal loading is concentrated on the west bank of Bohai Bay. In addition, some ports around Bohai Bay, such as Dandong, Dalian, Yantai, and Qingdao, changed from traditional coal loading ports to unloading ports. This study further developed the theory of transport geography, and improved our understanding of China's coal transportation system.

Atmospheric fine particles in a typical coastal port of Yangtze River Delta

In recent decades, coastal ports have experienced rapid development and become an important economic and ecological hub in China. Atmospheric particle is a research hotspot in atmospheric environmental sciences in inland regions. However, few studies on the atmospheric particle were conducted in coastal port areas in China, which indeed suffers atmospheric particle pollution. Lack of the physicochemical characteristics of fine particles serves as an obstacle toward the accurate control for air pollution in the coastal port area in China. Here, a field observation was conducted in an important coastal port city in Yangtze River Delta from March 6 to March 19, 2019. The average PM2.5 concentration was 63.7 ±27.8 μg/m^3 and NO3^-, SO4^2-, NH4^+, and organic matter accounted for ?60% of PM 2.5. Fe was the most abundant trace metal element and V as the ship emission indicator was detected. Transmission electron microscopy images showed that SK-rich, soot, Fe, SK-soot and SK-Fe were the major individual particles in the coastal port. V and soluble Fe were detected in sulfate coating of SK-Fe particles. We found that anthropogenic emissions, marine sea salt, and secondary atmosphere process were the major sources of fine particles. Backward trajectory analysis indicated that the dominant air masses were marine air mass, inland air mass from northern Zhejiang and inland-marine mixed air mass from Shandong and Shanghai during the sampling period. The findings can help us better understand the physicochemical properties of atmospheric fine particles in the coastal port of Eastern China.