AN INTEGRATED FUCOM-RAFSI MODEL FOR ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL OF A NEW GATEWAY PORT IN LIBYA FOR SOME AFRICAN LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES

The present paper aims at suggesting a multi-criteria decision-making model that would help in making the appropriate decision regarding the selection of the best gateway port for landlocked countries. There are 44 landlocked countries around the world, which do not have a seaport directly linked to the rest of the world. Sixteen of these countries are located in Africa, making it weak to compete in the global market, in addition to the high costs of its imports. The model proposed in this paper was applied to two landlocked countries in the African continent: Chad and Niger. The paper proposed 8 evaluation criteria related to evaluating the ports themselves in terms of infrastructure and services tariffs, as well as to the level of safety and the transport infrastructure from the transit country to the landlocked one. The Full Consistency Method (FUCOM) was used for the purpose of evaluating such criteria, and the number of navigation lines was the most important one. Ranking of Alternatives through Functional mapping of criterion sub-intervals into a Single Interval (RAFSI) method was used for the purpose of comparing 6 ports to conclude that the Misurata seaport is the best alternative.