Sustainable river-sea freight transport in major logistic gateways: a socio-economic and environmental performance evaluation of the United Kingdom’s and Continental Europe’s inland waterway transport

Gbako, S, Paraskevadakis, D, Ren, J and Wang, J (2025) Sustainable river-sea freight transport in major logistic gateways: a socio-economic and environmental performance evaluation of the United Kingdom’s and Continental Europe’s inland waterway transport. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal. ISSN 1477-7835

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Abstract

Purpose The increasing complexity of supply chains and the corresponding demand for efficiency and reliability highlight the urgent need for enhanced performance and measurement standards. The drive for improved competitiveness is a central theme across all sectors, driving the demand for superior performance and high-quality services. Research on performance factors in the domain of inland waterway transport (IWT) is limited, and the existing studies lack the incorporation of practical methods that could effectively enhance the reliability of performance management results. Thus, this study aims to identify and analyse factors influencing performance perception in IWT and establish a benchmarking methodology for assessing UK IWT performance and four other European market leaders. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the fuzzy-analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) and the technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) based methodology to support the IWT benchmarking process which is divided into three stages. Firstly, the study identifies performance factors through literature analysis and, then, validates them through a structured questionnaire survey, In the second stage, the critical success factors are prioritized using FAHP and expert judgments. Finally, the UK’s IWT performance was benchmarked with four European market leaders using the TOPSIS method. Findings The study identified 48 performance factors in IWT supply chains, categorized into eight: mobility and reliability, efficiency, profitability, environmental impact, infrastructure condition, safety, security, economic development, innovative transport technology and policy formulation. Mobility and infrastructure conditions were found to be the most significant. Research limitations/implications The present study will contribute by enhancing the overall understanding of performance management within IWT supply chains. The performance factors identified, along with the structural hierarchy taxonomic diagram will create a detailed performance database. Originality/value This study uses empirical data to identify performance determinants in intermodal IWT supply chains. It contributes to the theoretical framework surrounding the measurement and standards of IWT supply chain performance. The study also adopts the fuzzy-AHP method to evaluate and prioritize these performance factors to inform relevant stakeholders and policymakers of the most significant performance factors. Furthermore, this study serves as a preliminary reference for future research.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This author accepted manuscript is deposited under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC) licence. This means that anyone may distribute, adapt, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes, subject to full attribution. If you wish to use this manuscript for commercial purposes, please contact permissions@emerald.com
Uncontrolled Keywords:	3509 Transportation, Logistics and Supply Chains; 33 Built Environment and Design; 35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services; 3507 Strategy, Management and Organisational Behaviour; 12 Responsible Consumption and Production; Environmental Sciences
Subjects:	T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) V Naval Science > VM Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering
Divisions:	Engineering
Publisher:	Emerald
Date of acceptance:	27 March 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	10 June 2025
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2025 08:21
Last Modified:	10 Jun 2025 08:30
DOI or ID number:	10.1108/meq-09-2024-0382
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26556

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