Patterns of urbanization and energy requirements: recent regulation changes and simulation studies concerning American urban areas

In recent years, the world economy has become more integrated internationally and container transportation has become increasingly more important as the proportion of all trade using containers is continuously growing. In order to adapt to the increasing containerization trend, it is essential to plan and construct adequate ports and facilities to cope with this development.

Based on the analysis of factors influencing container movements, this paper illustrates the logical relationships for a distribution model, which has been used to predict the distribution of containers among the three main Seaports near Shenzhen and Hong Kong. A fuzzy number‐based distribution model is outlined in the paper. The paper illustrates the main influencing factors and their logical relationships and proposes a primary distribution model where the attractiveness of each port has been calibrated. The results show that the Port of Hong Kong is significantly more attractive than the other two ports modelled and is likely to continue to be so in the future.