Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Identifying and Evaluating Drivers Affecting the Future of Sustainable Financing in the Maritime Transportation Industry

Document Type : Original Manuscript

Authors
Javad Dehghani 1
Mohammad Hasan Maleki 2
Mohammad Reza Pourfakharan 1
Mozhgan Safa 1
1 Department of Accounting, Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran.
2 Department of Management, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, University of Qom, Qom, Iran.
10.22113/jmst.2024.452999.2591
Abstract
Abstract
The present research was conducted to identify and evaluate the drivers affecting the future of sustainable financing in the maritime transportation industry. The current research is an exploratory mix in terms of methodology, and in terms of data collection, it is a field study. The theoretical population of the research was experts with expertise in the fields of foresight and sustainable financing, and sampling was done in a judgmental manner. The sample size in this study was equal to 10 people. In this research, interview and questionnaire tools were used to collect data. At first, 25 drivers were extracted through a literature review and interviews with experts. Next, these drivers were screened by distributing expert questionnaires and the fuzzy Delphi method. Nine drivers had a favorable defuzzy number and were selected for final evaluation. The weight of evaluation indices was obtained by Hesitant fuzzy AHP. The expertise index had the highest weight. Finally, the screened drivers were evaluated by the Marcos method. For this purpose, prioritization questionnaires were distributed among experts, and experts' opinions were collected in the form of a 10-point spectrum. The drivers of strengthening the expertise of banks in the evaluation of economic plans, strengthening fintech financing in Iran, the governance model of organizations and companies in the maritime transport industry, and strengthening financing bonds in the capital market had the highest priority. The practical proposals of the research were developed based on the most important drivers. Some of the suggestions were: diversifying the expertise of economic project assessors, strategic partnership of banks with fintechs, and efforts to remove obstacles to the development of fintechs, strengthening corporate governance in the maritime transportation industry, and deepening the capital market.
 

INTRODUCTION

Sustainable financing has recently gained special importance in the maritime transport industry, especially water pollution, due to environmental pollution (Biermans et al., 2023). Sustainable financing is referred to as providing financial resources needed by projects and industries, taking into account different economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions (Cunha et al., 2021). Banks and other financial institutions
should not only pay attention to economic criteria when examining economic projects. Fintechs have recently tried to solve the lack of expertise of banks and large financial institutions in the field of project evaluation by relying on their innovations and technologies (Stulz, 2022; Lee et al., 2021; Elia et al., 2023). Fintechs are companies that develop and diversify their financial services using new digital and data-driven technologies (Giglio., 2022). Fintechs have different types such as banking fintechs, insurancetechs, cryptocurrencies, investments, and financing (Eickhoff et al., 2017). Unfortunately, fintechs in Iran have not developed much and are mainly payment-type fintechs due to structural, institutional, and legal barriers (Rezanjad Kokhdan et al., 2023).  Financing fintechs are among fintechs and provide new methods of financing. Funding fintechs are among the fintechs that offer new methods of financing, one of which is crowdfunding developed to finance micro-businesses and projects (Piliyanti., 2019). In the future, more methods will be developed that will affect sea-related businesses and industries. This study is conducted to identify and analyze the drivers affecting the future of sustainable financing in the maritime transportation industry. The study questions are as follows:

What are the drivers affecting the future of sustainable financing in the maritime transport industry?
What is the priority of drivers affecting the future of sustainable financing in the marine transportation industry

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study is conducted mainly to identify and analyze the drivers affecting the future of sustainable financing in the maritime transportation industry. So, fuzzy Delphi, hesitant fuzzy AHP, and MARCOS techniques, which are quantitative and are based on judgmental quantitative data for analysis, are used to evaluate the drivers. Also, some drivers of the research were extracted through interviews and the qualitative method of theme analysis. The fuzzy Delphi technique is used to screen drivers and the MARCOS technique is used to evaluate and rank drivers. Additionally, the weight of the indicators used to evaluate the drivers is obtained by the hesitant fuzzy AHP technique. Due to the quantitative & qualitative techniques used, the study has a mixed methodology. Furthermore, this is an applied study because of the application of the findings to the transportation industry, especially maritime transportation. The data are collected using interviews and questionnaires. The drivers are extracted by reviewing future studies and studies on financing and sustainable financing. The fuzzy expert, pairwise comparison, and MARCOS priority questionnaires are then distributed among experts to evaluate the drivers.

RESULTS

The MARCOS technique is used to evaluate the nine screened drivers. In this regard, experts' opinions about each driver are obtained based on the indicators of experts' expertise, severity of importance, and certainty in the form of a 10-point scale. These data are combined with the arithmetic mean formula, and the combined decision matrix is ​​extracted. The values ​​of this matrix are normalized using the linear method, and the weighted normal matrix is ​​obtained by multiplying the weight of the indicators in the normal matrix. The weight of the indicators is obtained by the fuzzy AHP technique. According to the scores of the factors, the priority drivers are strengthening banks' expertise in evaluating economic projects, strengthening fintech financing in Iran, the governance model of organizations and companies in the maritime transport industry, and strengthening financing bonds in the capital market. Recommendations are made based on priority drivers.

DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

This study is conducted to identify and analyze the drivers affecting the future of sustainable financing in the maritime transportation industry. For this purpose, 25 drivers are first extracted by reviewing the literature and interviewing experts. These drivers are then screened by distributing expert survey questionnaires and using the fuzzy Delphi technique. The nine drivers have a defuzzified number higher than 0.7 and are considered for the final analysis. The indicators of experts' expertise, severity of importance, and certainty are used to evaluate the drivers. The weight of these indicators is measured by the hesitant fuzzy AHP technique. Accordingly, the experts' expertise with a weight of 0.705 has the highest relative importance and weight. Finally, the screened drivers are analyzed and prioritized using the MARCOS technique and considering the evaluation indicators. The four drivers of strengthening banks' expertise in evaluating economic projects, strengthening fintech financing in Iran, the governance model of organizations and companies in the maritime transport industry, and strengthening financing bonds in the capital market have the highest priority, respectively.
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Keywords
Driver
Financing
Sustainable Financing
Future
Maritime Transportation

Subjects

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Journal of Marine Science and Technology
Volume 24, Issue 3
Autumn 2025
Pages 31-48

  • Receive Date 28 April 2024
  • Revise Date 15 July 2024
  • Accept Date 03 September 2024
  • Publish Date 22 November 2025