A Multi-perspective Study on Quantitative Evaluation Index System of Smart Port

Smart port construction is the key direction of next generation's port upgrading and transformation. The initial trials on the application of multi-mode perception and real-time analysis, big data and intelligent scheduling, and other emerging technologies have been conducted in some advanced ports from various perspectives of port production and operation. However, effects of those new techniques on the smart port construction are difficult to measure, and there is still a lack of consensus on the systematic evaluation methods and indicators. To deal with this and promote the scientific and systematical measurement of the port intelligence construction level, this paper made an initial trial to propose a quantitative port evaluation index system with five measurement dimensions, including management benefit, production scale, port operation, intelligent decision-making, and energy and environment. Then, indicators of the evaluation system have been analyzed from three stake-holders' perspectives, e.g., investors, ship operators and port managers. The analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method are utilized to evaluate the effect of port intelligence construction. Through a comparative analysis of two domestic ports in China, as a case study, the validity of the evaluation system has been testified. Results in this study show that the evaluation system proposed can reasonably reflect the construction effect of the intelligent port and provide potential theoretical supports and hints for future smart port construction.