The evaluation of seaport sustainability: The case of South Korea

The concept of port sustainability has gained increasing attention and become one of the most important focus areas for improving port competitiveness. This research aims to identify crucial criteria for assessing sustainability of the ports in South Korea using the importance-performance analysis (IPA) technique. A total of 27 sustainability assessment items encompassing all three pillars of sustainability-environmental, economic, and social aspects-were established from previous research and interviews. A survey was conducted with the port managers to evaluate the importance of the identified assessment measures and their perceived performances. The findings indicate that the economic issue associated with offering employment opportunities was deemed the most important measure, followed by environmental concerns and social factors. They also provide useful managerial insights for the ports to understand port sustainability issues so as to discover areas for improvements and direct their resources to the appropriate areas to enhance port competitiveness.