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

Abstract

Maritime ports are critical nodes in facilitating global trade, yet they encounter persistent challenges that sizably affect their operational performance and efficiency. This study is identified as a systematic review using bibliometric analysis to provide an overview of research developments and trends in operational challenges within maritime ports from 2010 to early 2025. This study utilises the PRISMA framework, obtaining 96 peer-reviewed journal articles from 60 sources obtained from the Scopus database. Data analysis was conducted using tools such as R-studio, Bibliometrix, VOSviewer and NVivo. Our analysis identified the most productive and influential journals, institutions, and regions, highlighting the key contributions to the field. This study emphasised articles with the highest citation count, which can serve as reference points based on current trends. We also employed co-occurrence techniques and thematic maps to identify trending topics and concepts within the domain. Thematic coding of the literature was conducted to identify the major challenges affecting ports. This analysis provides a noteworthy trajectory of the growth in literature concerning Asian nations, most prominently China, India and Singapore, which emerged as leaders within this domain. It further shows that previous studies have emphasised emerging themes like digitalisation, congestion, berth allocation, and port risks, which reinforce the major operational barriers faced by ports globally.