Evaluation and governance of green development practice of port: A sea port case of China

Abstract

Port development is an important driver for global economic growth, and also a main energy user and polluter in the world. Amid the global energy crisis and environmental degradation, the international port community has proposed the concept of green port. Zhuhai Port, an important shipping and logistics platform in southern China, is confronted with key questions of how to effectively conduct environmental pollution control and green development performance evaluation, while its size and business performance continue the rapid growth. To address this problem, this study first suggested a green port indicator system tailored-made for Zhuhai Port, and then uses the fuzzy importance-performance analysis (FIPA) method to determine the performance of Zhuhai Port in green port indicators before putting forward a governance strategy. The study shows that Zhuhai Port should focus on monitoring of energy consumption and pollutant emissions, innovation of scientific research technologies and development of green port schemes to deepen the concept of green development and improve the energy conservation and environmental protection capacity of the port. The research results can serve as a theoretical basis for formulation of Zhuhai’s green port policies and the establishment of an effective methodology system.