Purpose -Critical success factors (CSFs) have been widely used in the context of commercial supply chains. However, in the context of humanitarian aid (HA) this is a poorly addressed area and this paper therefore aims to set out the key areas for research. Design/methodology/approach -This paper is based on a conceptual discussion of CSFs as applied to the HA sector. A detailed literature review is undertaken to identify CSFs in a commercial context and to consider their applicability to the HA sector. Findings -CSFs have not previously been identified for the HA sector, an issue addressed in this paper.Research limitations/implications -The main constraint on this paper is that CSFs have not been previously considered in the literature as applied to HA. The relevance of CSFs will therefore need to be tested in the HA environment and qualitative research is needed to inform further work. Practical implications -This paper informs the HA community of key areas of activity which have not been fully addressed and offers. Originality/value -This paper contributes to the understanding of supply chain management in an HA context.

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Motivated by a lack of research on port sustainability performance and assessment, this paper uses a systematic literature review to identify trends, measurement methods, and mechanisms for the implementation of strategy and policy in this area. The paper provides a comprehensive and critical evaluation of port operational sustainability, focusing on ascertaining the impact of its implementation. The study analysed and synthesised established characteristics in the current literature regarding the performance of port sustainability and its evaluation in terms of operations and management. Successful performance measurement in port sustainability is driven by the dependence on establishing accurate indicators as the basis for measurement. Our clustering of analytical sustainability indicators reveals that environmental research is focused on pollution, social research is mainly focused on human resource management, while economic research is mainly on port management and borderline investment. Findings are discussed in four key areas of port sustainability performance and assessment: existing trends, implementation of measures, mechanisms for implementation, and assessment gaps and challenges. For existing trends, attempts to evaluate the applicability and practicality of green operations have improved the awareness and promotion of governmental green policies. Implementation measures relate to the utilisation of techniques that reveal optimal practices for practical sustainable operations while mechanisms largely relate to establishing indicators which increase understanding of performance. Finally, challenges in this field include achieving consistency among ports in how sustainability is measured. Future research should incentivise improvements in port operational practice and encourage self-examination in order to reprioritise activity.

The research presented in this paper applies the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to reveal and analyse transhipment port selection by global carriers. In all, 47 relevant service attributes were recorded from a literature review. Two rounds of Delphi surveys – followed by brainstorming sessions – were conducted among experts in industry and academia, in order to narrow their number to four main service attributes/criteria comprising 12 sub-criteria. An AHP designed questionnaire survey was distributed to 20 port users, which covered the total population of global ocean container operators, and to 20 transhipment service providers (port operators/authorities). The results of the AHP analysis revealed that both global container carriers and port service providers had a similar perception of the most important service attributes for transhipment port selection. However, the AHP weight ranking of the sub-criteria involved was not identical between the two surveys, providing scope for further adaptation of service providers to users' priorities. Differences in the performance ranking of six major container ports by global carriers, as revealed in the AHP survey, were then combined with the calculated weights for the 12 transhipment port selection sub-criteria to explore critical attributes where transhipment market strategy could focus. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2004) 6, 70–91. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100093