On distance decay in port choice

Abstract

In the paper, we consider a well-known port choice problem. By applying Mixed Integer Linear Programing (MILP), the relevant importance of the decision factors is presented. The importance of the decision factors was analysed by several cases. First of all, the ports within a narrow region were taken into consideration, and afterwards the ports from different multiport regions were compared. In the first case, the distance between ports has small effect on the choices made by the decision makers, while in the second one, the distances and consequently both the land transport and subjective decision factors play an important role within the decision making process. The analysis therefore indicates that decision factors do not have equal importance, but depend on the problem perspective.