Integrating Qualitative AHP and Quantitative AIS to Berth Location Selection for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship Mooring at the Kaohsiung Port

Abstract

Maritime transportation has gradually moved towards using Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) to reduce the cost of human resources, increase people’s safety and improve operational efficiency. This article explores which berth of the Kaohsiung port is suitable for mooring a MASS. After reviewing the literature and gathering experts’ opinions, a hierarchy structure with three assessment aspects, nine criteria and three potential alternatives suitable for the berth selection of a MASS were obtained. We then integrate the subjective Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and the objective Automatic Identification System (AIS) technique to select an appropriate berth for the mooring of a MASS. The empirical result indicates that “the 7th Container Centre” of the Kaohsiung port is more suitable for mooring a MASS. Moreover, the conclusions and recommendations are given to maritime government authorities and port operators for reference when upgrading from traditional ports to intelligent ports in the future.