ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS INFLUENCING ON A SMART PORT WITH AN ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS

Abstract

This research aims at contributing to Mediterranean container ports meet the smart management criteria. Literature shows numerous studies related to this issue, although in general, they do not tackle this topic in a holistic way, or are not addressed to the Mediterranean container ports or are not based on indicators that can be measured using data available in public resources. Our study adopts the smart port (SP) concept as starting point, analysing the operational, energy and environmental perspectives in a comprehensive way. In this context, we obtain the relative relevance of each perspective as well as the one of each factor influencing on them. For that, the "Analytic Hierarchy Process" (AHP) methodology is applied by a group of experts from different European countries. Between the results, we find that the level of technology, automation and intermodality are the most important factors in a SP. The obtained results will allow that port authorities and container terminal managers to define their strategies to increase their SP degree and improve their competitiveness at operational, energy and environmental level. Additionally, the results of our study can be used to define a unique indicator of the SP level in a port and to compare them, avoiding information difficult to get.