Evaluating and selecting maritime suppliers

The topic of supplier evaluation and selection has been discussed for several decades in various industries but is rarely researched in maritime supply chain management. To maintain a ship’s seaworthiness, shipowners must expend money and provide all supplies that are required for repairs and consumption on board, including parts, stores, bunkers and lubricators. These expenditures can amount to over tens of thousands of dollars; thereby, an efficient and effective supply chain system for the provision of supplies is a top priority for shipowners. The evaluation and selection of suppliers is critical to the success of this system. This study aims to establish an appropriate and common approach for maritime supplier evaluation and selection. Because decision-makers in shipping companies typically confront an uncertain environment, we adopt a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (FMCDM) approach to analyse the behaviour of decision-makers and obtain the best maritime supplier. Meanwhile, via a survey for Taiwanese shipping companies, we also found that supply capability and risk control are the most important criteria.