An Integrated Methodology for the Evaluation of Electronic Port Services

This article introduces a formal evaluation methodology for IT investments specifically designed to cope with the needs of port industry. Port industry is a service-oriented industry and, as such, is characterised by the intangible nature of benefits. The goal of this paper is to develop a methodology for the evaluation of container terminal related electronic services that incorporates both strategic and analytic evaluation techniques for performing both ex-ante and ex-post evaluation. Port industry is an interesting case because, although it is characterised by intense competition and ports have to concentrate in satisfying the customers’ needs by proving value added services with the use of advanced information and communication technologies (ICT), it is also characterised by a lag in adopting new technologies and techniques compared to other industries. In this paper, the authors present an analysis of the industry’s specific needs and proposes a dynamic evaluation methodology specifically designed to satisfy them.