Determinants of global logistics hub ports: Comparison of the port development policies of Taiwan, Korea, and Japan

This paper explores global logistics hub port assessment criteria, and compares the competitiveness of three major international hub ports in Northeast Asia, namely the ports of Busan, Tokyo, and Kaohsiung, from a logistics perspective employing a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach incorporating the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and gray relational analysis (GRA). A total of 20 assessment criteria are obtained under the five dimensions of political–economic environment, operating environment, cost environment, infrastructure facilities environment, and preferential incentive environment. The AHP results show that, from the perspective of all respondents, the top five assessment criteria are transport and distribution costs, convenience of customs clearance procedures, harbor and stevedoring costs, cost of land, and soundness of investment system and incentive measures. Based on GRA outcomes, Busan has the highest level of satisfaction as a global logistics hub port, followed by Tokyo and Kaohsiung.