Although the Delphi and AHP techniques have been extensively utilised in maritime transport research, the application of a combination of both techniques together in this sector is still limited. Hence, this paper aims to review the application of a combined Delphi and AHP method in maritime transport research through a literature review process. Among others, this study looks into the area of research, the number of expert respondents employed, the minimum prerequisite set for the selection of respondents and whether there is a similarity of respondents in both the Delphi and AHP techniques. In a period that spans around 11 years between 2004 and 2014, it has been discovered that only a total of 8 studies involving the shipping and port sub-sectors have applied the combined method. It is hoped that this review could provide some guidance to researchers in the maritime transport or other relevant areas on how the combined technique could be implemented in future research.

This paper aims to review the key factors for a feasible Short Sea Shipping (SSS) operation that is currentlybeginning to regain its popularity across the globe through the survey of literature beginning from the year 1999to 2014. Although the literature has addressed a myriad of important factors through research conductedparticularly in Europe, it could be argued that the important determining factors that are required for a particularroute or area may not be applicable to another route or area. In Europe, SSS is introduced with the main purposeof diverting freight transportation away from the congested roads whilst for the ASEAN countries, SSS has beenpart of the initiative to ensure the attainment of a well-connected ASEAN community. Hence, althoughimportant lessons could be learned from the European experience, a thorough study would have to be conductedbefore any SSS endeavour is initiated to ensure the important determining factors for its success are identified.This would enable SSS investors and authorities of countries involved to focus their limited resources to ensurethe success of their SSS undertaking.

This study examines in what way SSS) has been researched through an inclusive review of papers published in well-known journals over the 2002–2019 period. Systematic exploration shows that Maritime Policy and Management plays a dominant role in publishing SSS research. At the same time, classification and identification of important on determinants and barriers for successful SSS has been found as the main research area, followed by attractiveness and competitiveness of SSS; policy and subsidizations in SSS and multimodal transportation network; energy efficiency, emission and environmental issue and protection; ports and transport system efficiency; cargo operations, inventory management, competitive SSS technology and ICT; potential demand, opportunity and competitive advantage; sustainable development and influence of meteorological and weather conditions on SSS operations as popular topics. Since 2002, the use of quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques has progressively increased in SSS in order to help researchers make decisions through selected scientific methods. With this work, present and prospective researchers can understand the contemporary development and popular research topics in SSS. By presenting a review on the common research instruments and techniques used in SSS research, this study is expected to seal the gap in the present literature through the collation of information on the research approaches in contemporary SSS studies.