Evaluating the service requirements of Taiwanese international port distribution centres using IPA model based on fuzzy AHP

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the service requirement of international port distribution centres (IPDCs). In this paper, the service requirement attributes (SRAs) of IPDCs were evaluated from the user’s perspective. An importance-performance analysis (IPA) model along with a customer dissatisfaction attitude (DA) index is developed to evaluate the SRAs and provide the priorities of their improvement. What is different from other IPA models is the development of the DAs, based on a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model. The model is constructed to measure the user’s perceived importance and dissatisfaction for the SRAs. For validating the model, the IPDC of American President Shipping Line Logistic (APLL) at Kaohsiung Port and its users were empirically investigated. The results indicate that the users pay more attentions to the following attributes: Correctness of bill of lading, Adequacy of storage space, Punctual delivery, damaged cargos handling, and Perfect delivery of cargos. This may result from the users’ requirements to the transit services of IPDCs. While, for APLL, the improvement policies should be focused on enhancing storage space and handle damaged cargos. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings are discussed.