An Assessment of Container Seaport Efficiency Determinants

Paulo Caldas (), Maria Isabel Pedro and Rui Cunha Marques
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Paulo Caldas: CIGEST, Business and Economic School, Instituto Superior de Gestão, Av. Mal. Craveiro Lopes 2A, 1700-284 Lisbon, Portugal
Maria Isabel Pedro: CEG-IST, Centro de Estudos em Gestão, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1040-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Rui Cunha Marques: RCM2+, Research Centre for Asset Management and Systems Engineering, Lusofona University, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-39

Abstract: Maritime transport plays a pivotal role in the global economy, facilitating the majority of international trade and serving as a cornerstone for efficient and expansive logistics networks. The proliferation of economic globalisation has resulted in a significant upsurge in intercontinental transactions, thereby fostering the utilisation of ports and shipping enterprises as cost-effective and expeditious means of accessing a wide range of destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. The objective of this study is to evaluate the significance of five exogenous variables, namely, GDP per capita, water depth, commodity-type diversification, management model, and European directional division, in relation to the performance of seaports. Measuring the impact of exogenous variables in seaport performance is crucial for understanding how external factors influence efficiency, enabling informed decision-making, and facilitating the development of targeted policies for sustainable and effective port operations. This assessment will be conducted using robust benchmarking analysis methods, specifically the nonparametric order-α model. Several findings suggest that there is a negative relationship between GDP per capita and the performance of seaports when GDP per capita reaches very high levels. However, seaports located in regions with lower GDP per capita tend to exhibit superior performance. The inefficiency of southern seaports is evident, whereas seaports located in Central/Eastern Europe exhibit superior performance, irrespective of their model orientation. These findings underscore the importance of considering economic context and regional factors in understanding seaport performance and highlight potential areas for improvement in southern seaports.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis; containers; seaports; logistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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