A novel risk assessment considering social network for the system of intelligent shipping ecological chain

Intelligent shipping ecological chain (ISEC) is an ecological chain that spans from the supply end to the demand end, composed of upstream, midstream and downstream. The shipping ecological chain includes a series of links of the shipping industry chain as well as external factors such as environment, society, and economy. Therefore, this paper divides the sustainability risks of the ISEC into three categories, namely, internal risk, technical risk, and external environmental risk. The social network analysis (SNA) was then used to study the relationship between risk factors and identify key risk factors by quantifying the relationship between risk factors. Then, we used improved TOPSIS methods to achieve better risk management and assessment. This paper takes China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited as a case study, and determines the risk ranking of the container ISEC, the dry bulk cargo ISEC and the oil ISEC. The study found that the risk of the container ISEC is the lowest and the risk of the oil ISEC is the highest, which provides a reference for the risk management of enterprises.