4. Benchmarks for upgrading port-or

4. Benchmarks for upgrading port-originated maritime clusters The case study of the Shanghai maritime cluster elucidates the orientations for upgrading port-originated maritime clusters, and several benchmarks have been generated regarding the developmental objective and pathway. 4.1. Upgrading objective of port-originated maritime clusters The evolution of the Shanghai maritime cluster demonstrates that port-originated maritime clusters have experienced tremendous changes late in their developmental history. Initially, the Port of Shanghai served as a cargo entrepot ^ that mainly provided services related to cargo loading and discharging as well as auxiliary in-port vessel operations. Subsequently, it followed the trend of providing “door-to-door” transportation and value-added logistics services rather than only in-port cargo services. For more than 10 years, Shanghai has extended the scope of its traditional cargo handling and logistics services to include contemporary maritime services. Such an evolution process has also been documented by other scholars (Fisher Associates, 2004; Wang and Cheng, 2010; Zhang and Lam, 2013). They have concluded that some port-originated clusters upgrade themselves into logistics-based maritime clusters through providing integrated value-added logistics services, whereas others transform themselves into service-based maritime clusters by emphasizing higher-end maritime services. A few maritime clusters are able to integrate both types of logistics services as well as contemporary maritime services (Jakobsen et al., 2017), thereby developing into comprehensive maritime clusters.