Title: Second container port in Sri Lanka; Hambanthota or Trincomalee: an analysis using the game theory

Authors: Jayantha Rathnayake; A.W. Wijeratne

Addresses: Department of Faculty of Management, Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College, Malabe, Sri Lanka ' Department of Agribusiness Management, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka

Abstract: Despite its early start, Colombo remains being the only containerised port of Sri Lanka. A second container port, therefore, would be desirable in solving the prevailing capacity problem. Hambanthota and Trincomalee appear to be the ideal candidates for this position. For this study, the overall expected utility at the mixed Nash Equilibrium was calculated for Hambanthota and Trincomalee, analysing opinion survey data to choose the viable outcome with better pay-off from the given two alternatives. The results indicate that the level of preference for Trincomalee as the second container port is significantly higher than that for Hambanthota.

Keywords: container ports; Sri Lanka; Trincomalee; Hambanthota; game theory; Nash equilibrium; port location; preference levels; location selection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2012.049703

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2012 Vol.13 No.3, pp.358 - 378

Published online: 10 Dec 2014 *

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