A composite port resilience index focused on climate-related hazards: Results from Greek ports’ living-labs

This paper develops a composite Port Resilience Index (PRI) to address the specific vulnerabilities and operational challenges of Greek ports in respect to climate-related hazards. Based on stakeholder engagement from Living Labs in three key ports (Chios, Volos, and Heraklion), the study identifies and quantifies the impacts of climate-related hazards using a structured Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework. Specifically, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to elicit expert judgments and prioritize resilience criteria across five impact areas: Infrastructure, Operational and Supply Chain, Digital, Socioeconomic and Environmental, and Governance and Compliance Resilience. Nineteen indicators, spanning physical infrastructure, operational reliability, digital readiness, and socioeconomic factors, are evaluated to construct a composite PRI, enabling a transparent and stakeholder-informed benchmarking process. The results reveal significant variation in resilience levels, with Volos exhibiting the highest PRI (0.643) and Chios the lowest (0.217), thereby highlighting port-specific adaptation needs. Conducting a sensitivity analysis we validated the robustness of the PRI construction methodology across various weighting scenarios. The key contributions of this study are: (i) the development of a replicable, data-driven PRI model; (ii) the integration of local stakeholder input via Living Labs; and (iii) the innovative application of AHP to climate resilience planning in the port industry. Moreover, while focused on Greek ports, the framework offers a replicable model that can be adapted to other regions facing similar climate challenges. Ultimately, the PRI serves as both a diagnostic and strategic tool to guide policy, investment, and disaster preparedness in ports