An Assessment of Sustainability Indicators for a Shipyard, utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Sustainability and sustainable development are becoming more popular in the literature and are applied in many sectors since environmental concerns have increased globally. Consequently, sustainability concerns have started to focus on shipyards, where all ships are constructed, repaired, maintained, and dismantled. Since 90% of world trade merchandise is transported by ships, the shipbuilding sector has been concerned with energy efficiency and focused on either environment or emission-oriented research. However, sustainability has three dimensions: environmental, social, and economic. Each innovation and transformation have a positive or negative impact on each of those dimensions. In addition, the shipyards should implement a simple approach or initiative to reach the necessary sustainability targets. Therefore, the authors proposed modeling of identified indicators determined by the experts and used an analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method to prioritize the dimensions and indicators. The model is applied in a shipyard, and the economic dimension with profitability and revenue indicators was found to be significant. The shipyard evaluates environmental issues from an economic and social point of view, as shipyards face fierce global competition and the challenge of ensuring the availability of skilled labor with a minimum of accidents. Surprisingly, environmental dimensions are not at the forefront because shipyards are not obliged to respect international standards like ports and ships sailing on the overseas.