Impact of the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” Construction on the Efficiency of China’s Coastal Ports

Shunquan Huang, Yongsheng Huo () and Guangnian Xiao
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Shunquan Huang: School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China
Yongsheng Huo: School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China
Guangnian Xiao: School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: The “Belt and Road” initiative centrally embodies the Chinese government’s new concept of further strengthening regional cooperation and opening up to the outside world. The “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” (MSR) is a key component of this initiative. This study uses the MSR policy as a quasi-natural experiment to explore its impact on the efficiency of China’s coastal ports and the mechanisms underlying this effect, employing a difference-in-differences (DID) model based on panel data from major coastal ports in China between 2011 and 2022. The study finds that the policy of the MSR can significantly contribute to the efficiency of ports along the route, and this conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests that take into account endogeneity issues and the exclusion of other policy interferences. From the analysis of heterogeneity, the construction of the MSR can effectively promote port efficiency in the southern region and large cities. From the perspective of the impact mechanism, this policy mainly promotes port efficiency by mentioning the optimization of the human capital structure, the improvement of the level of industrialization, and the construction of infrastructure. The conclusions of the study are of great significance in the advancement of high-quality sustainable development of ports along China’s routes.

Keywords: 21st Century Maritime Silk Road; high-quality sustainable development; port efficiency; DID (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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