Port selection based on customer questionnaire: a case study of German port selection

Abstract

Abstract A new research idea regarding port selection concerns customer-oriented, rather than product-oriented, thinking. Through investigation and interviews with over 280 active customers in the global shipping industry, port selection criteria were proposed, and an evaluation scheme based on the responses to a questionnaire survey is compared with a scheme based on the weight calculation of the analytic hierarchy process. The results indicate that due to different priorities between customers and container carriers, port selection is sometimes inconsistent. Against the background of deployment of large-scale vessels, over-capacity has become normal in the industry; this study has great practical value for the whole industry.

Keywords

• Customer questionnaire
• Port selection
• Customer orientation
• Product orientation
• Analytic hierarchy process