Hybrid MCDM Model for Location of Logistics Hub: A Case in China Under the Belt and Road Initiative

The location of logistics nodes that facilitate the China Railway Express (CRexpress) and rail-sea intermodal transportation has received increasing attention in China under the Belt and Road initiative. This paper selects 38 cities as candidate Chinese international container intermodal hubs (CICIHs) through qualitative screening by considering the current operations of the CRexpress/rail-sea intermodal transportation and government planning strategies. Subsequently, five connectivity indexes are proposed to reflect the node performance considering the multiple modes and stages of transportation in a logistics chain. In view of the shortcomings of the grey relational analysis-technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (GRA-TOPSIS) method, a hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model is proposed to comprehensively evaluate the hub location. The model is based on the grey area relational analysis-technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (GARA-TOPSIS) in combination with analytic hierarchy process, entropy method and game theory. Tianjin, Harbin, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Xi'an, Urumqi, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Nanning are selected as the final CICIHs, considering the geographical location, economic development and national policy pertaining to the Belt and Road initiative. A sensitivity analysis of the index weight and preference coefficient and a comparative analysis of different MCDM methods are performed. The robustness and stability of the proposed model are verified. This study can support the location selection of CICIHs and expand the methods and applications in the decision-making field.