Decision Making on an Optimal Port Choice under Z-information

Abstract

The decision of shipping lines as to which port to use is a strategic one, and it is one of the most crucial factors to influence the operational and business performance of the organizations. The existing decision theories are not sufficiently adequate to account for imprecision and partial reliability of decision-relevant information in real-world problems. Prof. Zadeh suggested the concept of a Z-number which is able to formalize imprecision and partial reliability of information. In this article, we consider a hierarchical multiattribute decision problem of an optimal port choice under Z-number-based information. The solution of the problem is based on the use of Z-number-valued weighted average aggregation operator. The obtained results show validity of the suggested approach.