Port competitiveness evaluation research based on combined model of Cluster and TOPSIS analysis

As an important part of modern logistics industry, competition between ports is becoming increasingly fierce. The research on port competitiveness is inevitable to the development of China´s market economy. In this paper, we build a combined model of Cluster and TOPSIS analysis according to the characteristics of these two methods, and we use the model to evaluate port competitiveness of ten coastal ports in China. We firstly apply Cluster analysis to classify all the ports into different levels based on their competitiveness, and further make a specific rank of ports in each level by TOPSIS analysis. On the basis of these, we get the final rank of all the ten ports and then put forward some related strategies to improve port competitiveness. This paper could provide some references for evaluating port competitiveness, and it has great realistic significance to port operation and management.