Enhancing port performance assessment through new performance indicators and MCDM techniques

The Indian port sector contributes significantly to economic development by facilitating trade and supporting supply chains. The rise in the number of non-major ports in India has prompted the Union Shipping Ministry to develop a framework for National Port Ranking. As a result, the purpose of this study is to address this ranking framework in terms of Port Performance Indicators (PPIs). Throughput Volume, Pre Berthing Detention Time, Turn Round Time, Output per Ship Berth Day and Capacity Utilization are the most commonly used performance metric in the port industry, although it does not provide information on the port’s (regional) impact or desirability as a site for port-related firms. As a result, the current study introduced new PPIs such as port employment and value-added to current PPIs to address the increasing commercialization of port authorities (PAs), rising stakeholder pressure on port authorities, and the privatization of significant port operating activities. These new indicators benefit stakeholders with socioeconomic ties to ports as well as the port authority’s need for insight into port performance. In this study, authors propose some potentially unique PPIs such as the number of vessels (Gross Registered Tonne), berth capacity utilization, containerization etc. as a part of the Port performance index where a Multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) technique is used to assign weights to these indicators. These PPIs, acting as drivers of the developed performance evaluation framework, in this study would be used to evaluate the performance of the Major Indian Ports, eventually establishing a Port Performance Index. Furthermore, these PPIs will establish a relationship between these ports, providing us with a comprehensive view of the various facets of port improvement.