Strategic Interplay Between Ports, Sustainability and Spatial Competition: A Game Theoretic Approach

Strategic Interplay Between Ports, Sustainability and Spatial Competition: A Game Theoretic Approach | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Strategic Interplay Between Ports, Sustainability and Spatial Competition: A Game Theoretic Approach Mojdeh Younesi, Maryam Esmaeili This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4023038/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ports are vital hubs balancing economic growth and sustainable development imperatives. This paper investigates the strategic competition between two Iranian ports pursuing multimodal and exclusive road freight transportation using sequential spatial game theory. Simulating three scenarios focused on distinct sustainability goals, the model analyzes pricing, subsidies and taxation impacts on ports’ profitability, market dynamics and advancement of sustainable policies. The multimodal port exhibits greater profitability and market dominance across all scenarios, underscoring its viability for supporting Iran’s sustainable growth. While subsidies and discounts promote environmentally friendly multimodal transport, taxation proves less effective for emissions mitigation, indicating a policy pivot is essential. The framework reveals how economic levers and government interventions could potentially optimize environmental performance, social welfare, and job creation in the port sector. By providing a novel sustainability perspective on spatial port competition, these findings offer valuable insights to guide policymaking and management globally. The model's strategic outlook allows evaluating outcomes of decisions and infrastructure interventions for sustainable freight transportation worldwide. Port competition Sustainable development Spatial game theory Government intervention Multimodal transport Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4023038","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":277108916,"identity":"6a473e1b-a512-4b66-bf49-61a3489b1074","order_by":0,"name":"Mojdeh Younesi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Alzahra University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mojdeh","middleName":"","lastName":"Younesi","suffix":""},{"id":277108917,"identity":"d6962230-cc88-47a2-9362-1a57ca715e55","order_by":1,"name":"Maryam Esmaeili","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBAC+wYQaWDBw8DAfIDhAQNDAlRCAqcWAwgpAdTClgBST6wWsAIeA2QtuIEB/+nEDx8KJGQYxM58/JDwxy7PvP0A44cfDBb5OP0ikbtZcgbIYdK5myUSeJKLZc4kMEv2MEhYNuCyRYJ3gzQPRMsGiQQJ5sQZQLdJA51qgNthZzf//gPWkvP4R4JBfeIM/gfMv/FqYcjdJs0A0cImkZBwOHGGRAIbflskcrdZ9oC1pJlZJBw4DtTysA0kglOLff/ZzTd+/LGxZ5BOfnzjw59qoMOSD9/4UVGHUwtC7wE4k7EBHl+jYBSMglEwCsgDAAGQSnvZtBscAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Alzahra University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maryam","middleName":"","lastName":"Esmaeili","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-03-07 05:46:12","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4023038/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4023038/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":53821839,"identity":"58a4ed23-60e7-4366-a6a8-7bd1b9efe546","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-01 01:09:41","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":773906,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Final00.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4023038/v1_covered_28845afe-4796-442c-b198-e9e2c041e8fa.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Strategic Interplay Between Ports, Sustainability and Spatial Competition: A Game Theoretic Approach","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Port competition, Sustainable development, Spatial game theory, Government intervention, Multimodal transport","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4023038/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4023038/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Ports are vital hubs balancing economic growth and sustainable development imperatives. 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