Maritime ports and operational barriers: tracing research trajectories through bibliometric mapping

Abstract

Maritime ports are critical nodes in facilitating global trade, yet they encounterpersistent challenges that sizably affect their operational performance and efficiency.this study is identified as a systematic review using bibliometric analysis to provide anoverview of research developments and trends in operational challenges withinmaritime ports from 2010 to early 2025. this study utilises the prisMa framework,obtaining 96 peer-reviewed journal articles from 60 sources obtained from the scopusdatabase. Data analysis was conducted using tools such as r-studio, Bibliometrix,vOsviewer and nvivo. Our analysis identified the most productive and influentialjournals, institutions, and regions, highlighting the key contributions to the field. thisstudy emphasised articles with the highest citation count, which can serve as referencepoints based on current trends. we also employed co-occurrence techniques andthematic maps to identify trending topics and concepts within the domain. thematiccoding of the literature was conducted to identify the major challenges affecting ports.this analysis provides a noteworthy trajectory of the growth in literature concerningasian nations, most prominently china, india and singapore, which emerged as leaderswithin this domain. it further shows that previous studies have emphasised emergingthemes like digitalisation, congestion, berth allocation, and port risks, which reinforcethe major operational barriers faced by ports globally.