Quantitative sustainability assessment of freeports: Hybrid model evidence from the UK

Abstract

Freeports and their equivalents are designed to boost national economic prosperity, yet their associated sustainability concerns are often overlooked. Existing research on freeport performance evaluation is largely fragmented, with a predominant focus on economic metrics specific to individual cases. Moreover, the existing methods for sustainability assessments face inherent limitations in addressing uncertainty and integrating indicators within both hierarchical and interconnected network structures. To address these research gaps, this study introduces a novel methodology for holistically assessing freeport sustainability using a hybrid Bayesian Network and Evidential Reasoning (BNER) model. This model can process both qualitative and quantitative performance data, and integrate different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to generate a comprehensive index. The new contributions of this paper include: (1) It proposes a novel framework for evaluating freeport sustainability across economic, environmental, and social dimensions and synthesising them into a singular index. (2) It prioritises all relevant KPIs from multiple stakeholder perspectives. The findings indicate that information technology and customs clearance efficiency are the most significant among the 42 identified KPIs. (3) A new BNER model is introduced to address data uncertainty and interdependent factors in performance assessment. (4) The applicability of the developed model is demonstrated through a real-world case study of a UK freeport, providing valuable practical insights.