Port choice by intra-regional container service operators: decision-making techniques between Malaysian and other Asian ports

Intra-regional container service operators are challenged to design regular and reliable liner services connecting regional ports at the lowest cost and shortest transit time while considering customer demand. This port study of PortEconomics member Theo Notteboom co-authored by Noorul Shaiful Fitri Abdul Rahman (International Maritime College Oman, Sultanate of Oman), Muhamad Nasir Rahmatdin (University Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia) and Mohammad Khairuddin Othman (University Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia), focuses on the selection of ports of call in regular intra-regional container services, an under-researched part of the container shipping market.

A combination of decision-making techniques (i.e. Analytical Hierarchy Process, fuzzy link-based and Evidential Reasoning) are presented to assist intra-regional container service operators in selecting ports of call.The proposed methodology is empirically applied to container services between Malaysian and other nearby Asian ports. While Port Klang is the main gateway to Malaysia, the results show that other Malaysian ports should play a more prominent role in accommodating intra-Asian container services. This research can assist maritime stakeholders in evaluating intra-regional port-to-port liner service configurations. Furthermore, the novel mix of decision-making techniques complements and enriches existing academic literature on port choice and liner service configuration.

The port study published in The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics (Volume 35(4)) and can be freely downloaded via journal’s website.