| Summary |
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the competitive advantages of North Carolina's two state ports, Wilmington and Morehead City, in regard to the transportation networks of the state and in competition with the regional ports of Norfolk, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia. The methodology chosen to accomplish this goal is the subjection of abstracted highway and railroad networks composed of the five port cities and the twenty largest cities of North Carolina to network analysis. By doing so, a value graph matrix is developed for each transport system that will indicate which cities are closest to all others using the parameter distance in miles. This enables us to evaluate the five port cities in terms of highway and railroad mileage to all of the other cities. Also, a composite figure, consisting of all the distances to every city from any one, allows us to rank the port cities in terms of access to the entire system. In this manner the geographic position of the state ports in relation to the largest cities of the state can be analysed in conjunction with that of the competing regional ports of Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah. All of the above ports transfer a significant portion of the North Carolina import and export commerce and an examination of the distance factor is significant in terms of port selection by those responsible for moving commerce to and from North Carolina's growing economy. An important area of secondary consideration within this thesis is the documentation of the movement of state commerce through North Carolina's ports. Even though the competing regional ports are much larger than either Morehead City or Wilmington, the state ports transfer a significant portion of the state's ocean going commerce from their wharves. Wilmington is a port where facilities are most concerned with general cargo shipment. Since the containerization of ships cargo is an important technological innovation in this type of trade, an analysis of the containers shipped to and from the state for the year 1977 is made. Morehead City, on the other hand, is oriented more to shipment of bulk cargo and so all tonnages for all types of cargoes for the year 1977 are analysed. This view of the actual cargo shipment demonstrates the ability of the ports to contend for different kinds of cargo within the state. |
| Local note | Joyner-"Presented to the faculty of the Department of Geography ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degre Master of Arts in Geography." |
| Local note | Joyner-"Presented to the faculty of the Department of Geography ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degre Master of Arts in Geography." |
| Local note | Joyner-"Presented to the faculty of the Department of Geography ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degre Master of Arts in Geography." |
| General note | Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Geography |
| General note | Advisor: Edward P. Leahy |
| Dissertation note | M.A. East Carolina University |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-93). |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Thèses et écrits académiques. |
