Abstract

With the expansion of international maritime trade and the growing strategic role of ports within global supply chains, environmental risk management in port operations has become a fundamental prerequisite for the sustainable development of maritime transportation and trade. Dredging and dredged material disposal operations, as critical activities supporting port development and maintenance, are inherently associated with significant environmental consequences. In the absence of effective management, such operations may lead to the degradation of marine ecosystems, reduced operational efficiency of ports, and increased environmental costs. The present study aims to model and manage the environmental risks associated with port operations within the framework of sustainable international maritime trade by employing an integrated Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS approach in Khorramshahr Port. In the first stage, through an extensive literature review and brainstorming sessions with experts in port management and marine environmental studies, 27 environmental risks related to dredging and disposal operations were identified. Subsequently, the weights of the evaluation criteria, including severity, occurrence probability, and detectability, were determined using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP). Finally, the identified risks were prioritized using the Fuzzy TOPSIS method. The findings revealed that among the physical and chemical risks associated with dredging operations, “bed morphology alteration” ranked as the highest priority risk, while among the ecological risks, “destruction of benthic habitats” was identified as the most critical risk factor. Furthermore, in dredged material disposal operations, “increase in water turbidity” and “destruction of benthic habitats” were recognized as the most significant environmental risks. The results indicate that fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making models can serve as effective tools for environmental risk management in ports, enhancing the sustainability of port operations and strengthening sustainable international maritime trade.