Maritime shipping ports performance: a systematic literature review

Abstract

The maritime sector has evolved as a crucial link in countries' economic development. Given that most of the trade across regions takes place through naval transportation, the performance of the seaports has been one of the focus areas of research. As the publication volume has significantly grown in the recent past, this study critically examines the publications related to the performance of ports for exploring the evolution, identifying the trends of articles, and analyzing the citations covering the publications based on relevant keywords in Scopus database for the period 1975–April 2024. Bibliometric and scientometric analysis was done using R, Python, and VOS software tools. Results indicate the core subject areas as “port efficiency”, “data envelopment analysis” (DEA), “port competitiveness”, “simulation”, “port governance”, and “sustainability,” with "sustainability" as the most discussed and highly relevant theme that has evolved in the last five years. Bibliometric data analysis on the subject area, yearly trends, top journals of publications, citation and author analysis, impact analysis, country-wise publication, and thematic analysis with clusters are also performed to outline future research directions. The analysis indicates an exponential rise in publications in recent times and with sustainability-related studies gaining more importance, especially for empirical research on port performance and demands for future empirical research on sustainability and smart port performance subject area. The study's findings are helpful for researchers, academicians, policymakers, and industry practitioners working towards a sustainable maritime port industry.