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Abstract
Transportation networks play a crucial role in human mobility, the exchange of goods
and the spread of invasive species. With 90 per cent of world trade carried by sea,
the global network of merchant ships provides one of the most important modes of transportation.
Here, we use information about the itineraries of 16 363 cargo ships during the year
2007 to construct a network of links between ports. We show that the network has several
features that set it apart from other transportation networks. In particular, most
ships can be classified into three categories: bulk dry carriers, container ships
and oil tankers. These three categories do not only differ in the ships' physical
characteristics, but also in their mobility patterns and networks. Container ships
follow regularly repeating paths whereas bulk dry carriers and oil tankers move less
predictably between ports. The network of all ship movements possesses a heavy-tailed
distribution for the connectivity of ports and for the loads transported on the links
with systematic differences between ship types. The data analysed in this paper improve
current assumptions based on gravity models of ship movements, an important step towards
understanding patterns of global trade and bioinvasion.
[1
]Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky
Universität, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Straße 9-11, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany