Table 3.

Identified factors, theme 2: connectivity

Theme	Factor	References	Expected impact towards a Direct Connection
Connectivity	Connectivity	Bartholdi et al. (2016), Calatayud et al. (2016), Cullinane and Wang (2009), Jiang et al. (2015), Song et al. (2019), Yap and Notteboom (2011), Wang and Cullinane (2014), Wilmsmeier et al. (2011), Xu et al. (2020)	+
	GDP per Capita	Vidya and Taghizadeh-Hesary (2021)	+
	Logistics performance	Ojala and Çelebi (2015), Saeed and Cullinane (2021) Shibasaki et al. (2019), Schwartz et al. (2009), Yap et al. (2006)	+
	MSR routing	Pan et al. (2020)	+
	Nautical distance	Fugazza et al. (2014), Fugazza and Hoffmann (2017), Hoffmann et al. (2014), Pan et al. (2019)	−
	Political stability	Xu et al. (2015), Yap et al. (2006)	+
	Port infrastructure	Fugazza (2015), Schwartz et al. (2009), Wilmsmeier and Hoffmann (2008), Vidya and Taghizadeh-Hesary (2021), Xu et al. (2015), Yap et al. (2006)	+
	Reefer Cargo	Schwartz et al. (2009), Wilmsmeier et al. (2011)	+
	Route deviation	Fugazza (2015)	−
	Trade agreement	Vidya and Taghizadeh-Hesary (2021), Yang et al. (2014)	+
	Trade facilitation	Lin (2015), Vidya and Taghizadeh-Hesary (2021)	+
	Trade flow	Fugazza (2015), Saeed and Cullinane (2021), Wang and Cullinane (2008), Yang et al. (2014), Yap (2019), Yap et al. (2006), Xu et al. (2015)	+