A key decision-making process on logistic support to merchant ships based on operational requirements: Marine supplier selection

The operational performance of merchant ship fleets depends on establishing an effective ship-shore interface especially on logistic support. In this process, selection of marine supplier with respect to the ship operational requirements appears to be a key decision-making issue. This paper offers an integrated decision aid in order to model the marine supplier selection process. The backbone of proposed methodology is the combination of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, Analytic Hierarchy Process, and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution, which allows the decision-makers to combine market dynamics and the logistic needs of the ship's operating environment, which also includes sea voyages, port periods, and docking facilities. A userfriendly interface of the integrated methodology provides opportunities to shipping executives to integrate the proposed methodology into technical ship management procedures.