A Study on the Comparative Analysis of Port Competitiveness Using AHP

Addressing change in the global sea transportation system in 21st century such as the introduction of “Hub and Spoke” systems, ports across the world have been respectively making various efforts to take the lead in playing their roles as regional hub ports. Considering this change, this research is attempting to find newly rising factors impacting on port competitiveness, especially focusing on the factors that reflect strategic investments in terms of port policy—through comparing major container ports throughout five continents including North America, Indian Sub-continent, and Greater Asia. To indentify key factors, the research uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as the major analytical tool, while identifying priorities from the perspective of consumer-facing competitiveness and policy-facing competitiveness by using a survey result. The research provides relevant entities such as local port authorities, local governments, and national governments with policy implications and future tasks.