Selection of multi-criteria energy efficiency and emission abatement portfolios in container terminals

Environmental protection, sustainability, and energy efficiency are important issues in seaport management. As the interface between sea and hinterland transport, container terminals play an important role in global trade, logistics, and supply chains. To increase sustainability and improve the environmental footprint of the terminal, a wide range of emission abatement measures are available. Often, however, there is not only a lack of a precise analysis of the impact, costs and consequences of the measures on the terminal, but also a lack of a methodology for the selection of a set of measures, i.e. for portfolio selection in environmental decisions. This paper presents an approach for multi-criteria portfolio selection to environmental decision problems. It is illustrated via an extensive case study for environmental sustainability measures in container terminals. Particularly, energy and emission abatement measures are assessed and used to construct a portfolio that improves the overall energy efficiency of the terminal. A modified PROMETHEE V approach is used to construct appropriate portfolios of measures based on the decision maker's (DM's) preferences and further interdependencies. PROMETHEE II is again used to decide on a portfolio.