IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i12p7474-d842377.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Allocation of Regional Logistics Hubs and Assessing Their Contribution to Saudi Arabia’s Logistics Performance Index Ranking

Author

Listed:
  • Malk Almalki

    (Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia)

  • Mohammed Alkahtani

    (Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

In 2016, Saudi Arabia published its vision for the year 2030, which is based on the Kingdom’s geographical, financial, social and religious potentials. Developing the logistics sector and improving the Kingdom’s ranking in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) to the twenty-fifth rank was one of the most targeted success factors. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia’s rank in this index has declined over the past years, until it reached the fifty-fifth rank as per the last published LPI report. This research proposes a set of logistics hubs (LHs) which are located at key multi-logistics areas within the regional trading zones of the country. A spatial model was implemented on a macro level to integrate multi-logistical, infrastructural and natural geographic information system (GIS) layers, and highlight their intersections as initial feasible areas. Subsequently, an optimization model based on integer linear programming (ILP) was used to maximize the number of allocated LHs and minimize the overall distances between allocated LHs and international trading nodes considering multiple factors. More than 80 selected subject matter experts (SMEs) from 9 different countries have participated in World Bank’s driven surveys that assess the contribution of the LHs’ allocation proposal on Saudi Arabia’s LPI ranking. An improvement of about 10% in the LPI overall score with a 20 rank promotion has been estimated as per the SMEs responses. These results demonstrate that investing in logistics infrastructure and ranking in LPI are perfectly, positively and highly related.

Suggested Citation

  • Malk Almalki & Mohammed Alkahtani, 2022. "Allocation of Regional Logistics Hubs and Assessing Their Contribution to Saudi Arabia’s Logistics Performance Index Ranking," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-27, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7474-:d:842377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7474/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7474/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew F. Haughwout, 2001. "Infrastructure and social welfare in metropolitan America," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Dec, pages 1-16.
    2. Yan Zhang & Yingying Zhang & Yanfeng Li & Sen Liu & Junai Yang, 2017. "A Study of Rural Logistics Center Location Based on Intuitionistic Fuzzy TOPSIS," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2017, pages 1-7, June.
    3. Kou-Huang Chen & Chin-Nung Liao & Li-Chun Wu, 2014. "A Selection Model to Logistic Centers Based on TOPSIS and MCGP Methods: The Case of Airline Industry," Journal of Applied Mathematics, Hindawi, vol. 2014, pages 1-10, July.
    4. Ramona Iulia ?ar?avulea (Dieaconescu) & Mihaela Gabriela Belu & Dorel Mihai Paraschiv & Ioan Popa, 2016. "Spatial Model for Determining the Optimum Placement of Logistics Centers in a Predefined Economic Area," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 18(43), pages 707-707, August.
    5. Conrado V. Plaza & Vanessa de A. Guimarães & Glaydston Ribeiro & Laura Bahiense, 2020. "Economic and environmental location of logistics integration centers: the Brazilian soybean transportation case," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 28(3), pages 749-771, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gustavo Rodrigues de Morais & Yuri Clements Daglia Calil & Gabriel Faria de Oliveira & Rodney Rezende Saldanha & Carlos Andrey Maia, 2023. "A Sustainable Location Model of Transshipment Terminals Applied to the Expansion Strategies of the Soybean Intermodal Transport Network in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-27, January.
    2. Xinman Zhu & Jie Dai & Haoran Wei & Debing Yang & Weilun Huang & Zhang Yu & Jorge E. Macias-Diaz, 2021. "Application of the Fuzzy Optimal Model in the Selection of the Startup Hub," Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, Hindawi, vol. 2021, pages 1-9, February.
    3. Pajones, Markus & Pfoser, Sarah, 2018. "Supporting the selection of sustainable logistics locations," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Jahn, Carlos & Kersten, Wolfgang & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Logistics 4.0 and Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Innovative Solutions for Logistics and Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Context of In, volume 26, pages 169-182, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    4. Suho Bae & Sheldon Gen & Seong-Gin Moon, 2012. "Institutional, geographic, and facility factors affecting differences in prices for wastewater services," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 49(3), pages 767-788, December.
    5. Samir Saidi & Sami Hammami, 2017. "Impact of Investments in Public Infrastructures on Economic Performance and Private Investment in Developing Countries: A Case Study for Tunisia," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 20(63), pages 126-146, March.
    6. Muhammad Shahbaz & Miroslav Mateev & Salah Abosedra & Muhammad Ali Nasir & Zhilun Jiao, 2021. "Determinants of FDI in France: Role of transport infrastructure, education, financial development and energy consumption," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 1351-1374, January.
    7. Samir SAIDI, 2016. "Impact of road transport on foreign direct investment and economic growth: Empirical evidence from simultaneous equations model," E3 Journal of Business Management and Economics., E3 Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 064-071.
    8. Huang, Weilun & Zhang, Qi, 2020. "Selecting the optimal economic crop in minority regions with the criteria about soil and water conservation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    9. Li, Chunying & Zhang, Jinning & Lyu, Yanwei, 2022. "Does the opening of China railway express promote urban total factor productivity? New evidence based on SDID and SDDD model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. repec:rre:publsh:v:37:y:2007:i:2:p:207-50 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Aljohani, Khalid & Thompson, Russell G., 2020. "A multi-criteria spatial evaluation framework to optimise the siting of freight consolidation facilities in inner-city areas," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 51-69.
    12. Hao Lu & Jie Bao, 2022. "Spatial Differentiation Effect of Rural Logistics in Urban Agglomerations in China Based on the Fuzzy Neural Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-23, July.
    13. Jacinto Brito González, 2004. "Conocimiento, geografía e instituciones: Una aproximación a la problemática del crecimiento en el archipiélago canario," Documentos de trabajo conjunto ULL-ULPGC 2004-03, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas de la ULPGC.
    14. Derek K. Kellenberg, 2007. "The Provision Of Public Inputs And Foreign Direct Investment," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(2), pages 170-184, April.
    15. Zhiqiang Liu & Shitong Jia & Zixing Wang & Caiyun Guo & Yanqi Niu, 2022. "A Measurement Model and Empirical Analysis of the Coordinated Development of Rural E-Commerce Logistics and Agricultural Modernization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, October.
    16. Vakulenko, Yulia & Arsenovic, Jasenko & Hellström, Daniel & Shams, Poja, 2022. "Does delivery service differentiation matter? Comparing rural to urban e-consumer satisfaction and retention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 476-484.
    17. Mihaela MIHAI & Daniela-Ioana MANEA & Emilia TITAN & Aida CATANA, 2020. "Possibilities To Quantify The Impact Of Cohesion Policing At The Level Of The Eu States," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(1), pages 212-229, November.
    18. Amirhossein Baghestani & Mohammadhossein Abbasi & Saeed Rastegar & Amir Reza Mamdoohi & Atoosa Afaghpoor & Mahmoud Saffarzadeh, 2023. "Logistics Village Location with Capacity Planning Problem, an MILP Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7474-:d:842377. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.