Source: Data compiled by Dr. Kevin O'Connor, The University of Melbourne.

World's Major Gateway Systems, 2006

The global system of freight circulation is articulated by major gateway regions (or gateway systems), often composed of a cluster of ports and airports. This does not mean that ports and airports are functionally integrated (they are not), but that the region they service is a major load center serviced by a variety of supply chains. Put all together, the gateway regions accounted for 90% of the containerized and air freight traffic respectively. This underlines their fundamental importance in the transshipment of the world's trade and as intermediary (or final) locations within supply chains.

It is apparent that there is a substantial concentration of freight activity along the Tokyo - Singapore corridor in Pacific Asia. The world's largest gateway region is the Hong Kong - Shenzhen freight cluster accounting for 14.8% of the containerized and air freight traffic. If this cluster is expanded to include the Pearl River Delta (with Guangzhou), then its share reaches 16.7%. For Europe, the Rhine/Scheldt delta (from Amsterdam to Brussels) account for 7.5% of the global containerized and air freight volume. The most important North American gateway system is Los Angeles / Long Beach. Some of the gateways are dominantly hubs transshipping freight from one system of circulation to the other, such as Singapore, Colombo or Dubai.