This article proposes a quantified SWOT framework which integrates fuzzy linguistic preference relation to evaluate the competitive position of Abidjan container terminal in West Africa. The integration of fuzzy linguistic preference relation in the quantified SWOT framework circumvents the difficulties in terms of data collection and consistency of judgment matrices prevailing in the conventional AHP and Fuzzy AHP. Moreover, the study provides relevant evidences about the key internal and external attributes shipping lines considered as important and hence the attributes that ports/ terminals most need to enhance in order to improve their attractiveness and be well positioned in the market. On the other hand, the change in terminals competitive position between 2010 and 2013 highlights that the difficulties of West African ports in attracting customers in the sub-region are not only related to internal problems such as inadequate infrastructures, facilities or inefficiency, but significant political and economic constraint outside the ports constraints their competitiveness.

This study used the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds testing approach and Toda-Yamamoto Non-granger causality test to analyze respectively the long-run and causal relationships among economy performance, foreign direct investment, domestic investment and port sector production output in Cote d'Ivoire over the period 1980-2013. The empirical results illustrate that economy performance, foreign direct investment and domestic investment are significant in explaining the productivity of port sector. Therefore, the study suggests focusing on investment strategies that involve private (foreign and domestic) participation in projects dedicated to improve the safety, quality of operations in the sector and transport connectivity.