Application of interval-valued fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach in selection cargo terminals, a case study

Abstract

Cargo terminals are the gateways for entrance of commodities into the transportation network. Therefore, locating them in optimal locations could have a major impact on the cost effectiveness and efficiency of transport, traffic safety and reduction in environmental pollutions. Due to the presence of a large number of parameters involved and the existing uncertainties, decision making in this field is a complex task. If the decision makers cannot reach an agreement on the method of defining linguistic variables based on the fuzzy sets, favorable results and more accurate modeling can be achieved by using the interval-valued fuzzy sets (IVFSs) which provide an additional degree of freedom to represent the uncertainty and fuzziness in the real world. This study presents a group fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based on IVFSs (IVF-AHP), and its application to find the optimal location for the Ghaen (Qayenat) cargo terminal in Ghaen City, Iran. The results show that the proposed method is a reliable method in selecting the optimal location for cargo terminals.