A total factor productivity analysis of a container terminal, Durban, South Africa (original) (raw)
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Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 2021
Background: Ports are one of the assets of every country and one way to achieve efficiency is by maximizing productivity amid limited resources. Despite the increase in the number of studies on the efficiency of container terminals, their focus has been channeled on advanced markets. Researchers conduct limited studies on container terminals in developing countries such as those of the West African region, which are located in a critical geographic place in the international maritime route between these areas and the World. Information on their potential for development relative to other terminals worldwide is therefore not readily available hence, this study seeks to provide answers to critical productivity indicators of ports in the West Africa sub-region. Methods : We evaluate the technical efficiency of the 5 major container terminals in the West African region. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is used to measure technical efficiency and slack variable analysis which identifies potential areas of improvement for inefficient terminals. Moreover, DEA can handle multiple inputs and outputs, which makes it applicable to the port analysis. Findings: The results indicate that the Tema port is the most efficient port among the sample, with an average efficiency of 100% in the nine years and the Port of Cotonou is the least efficient with an average efficiency of 44% and exhibits substantial waste in production throughout the nine-year analysis. Novelty: This is the first time that the current data from 2010- 2018 has been used to determine port efficiency and the efficiency scores are necessary indicators for terminal managers to adopt and sustain all the necessary alignments to structures and strategies. Keywords: Data envelopment analysis; productivity improvement; efficiency; port management; West Africa
The Central European Review of Economics and Management, 2018
Aim: The purpose of this paper is to examine the productivity of 12 container ports located in East and Southern African developing nations for the period of 2014-2016. Furthermore, to investigate the sources of productivity change over the time period. Design / Research methods: This research collects data on the 12 container ports. The productivity of these ports is analyzed using the Data Envelopment Analysis based Malmquist productivity index. This is decomposed into technological changes and technical efficiency. The sources of productivity change are identified.Conclusions /findings: The major finding of this study is the trend in the port efficiency level over the three year period of analysis. Therefore assisting maritime policymakers and port authorities on what aspect of the port production need enhancement. Originality/value of the article: Evaluation of ports in developing nations in Africa is not common. Also, the year under examination is less than five years. Theref...
2019
First and foremost, I would like to thank the reviewer (my supervisor) Prof. Dong-Wook Song and the World Maritime University (WMU) team of staff at large for their helpful comments, valuable contributions and guidance during the course of crafting this paper. Secondly, I am grateful to a number of organizations and officials for their support in sharing performance review reports containing relevant historical data/information for my analysis. These include: Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS) through Mr. David Talawa (as contact person holding the post of Director of Corporate Services) and Intergovernmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS) through Mr. Clement W. Kamendu (Director-Shipping, Ports and Freight Services) and Mr. Aderck I. Kagenzi (Programs Manager-Shipping, Ports and Freight Services) Lastly but not least in importance, I would like to register my profound gratitude to the following: The Government of Norway for financial support (through Full United Nations Student Fellowship) and my employer (Tanzania Shipping Agencies Corporation-TASAC) for nominating my me to join this noble course and approving my request of study leave. Indeed, they have added value to my knowledge of the maritime transport industry and I am quite confident that my career after completing will definitely be more interesting than before.
The article presents a method for evaluating the efficiency of port container terminals. The research was conducted for nine European terminals which use different handling technologies. The terminals have been divided due to the level of automation of transport processes. In the efficiency research DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) method is applied, that was previously used in studies of the relative productivity in the industry. This method allows you to multicriteria process analysis based on the properly selected production system model processing input parameters on output. Conclusions from analysis can be a ground for making a decision on organizational or investment issues.
Measuring West-Africa Ports Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis
Journal of Transportation Technologies, 2019
The present study measured the relative efficiency of five major commercial ports in West Africa, using three different Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methods, the CCR, BCC, and Windows I-C methods over the years 2005-2016. Seven input variables and one output variable were used in the model analysis. The CCR and BCC methods were used to evaluate the technical and scale efficiency while the Windows I-C method provided a comprehensive ranking of the studied ports. The results showed that the scale efficiency score of 89.53% indicated that on average the production scale of the ports had deviated from the most productive scale size (MPSS) by 10.47%. These results revealed that the source of the overall inefficiency is due to scale rather than pure technical inefficiency. Hence, in order to improve the overall efficiency, the two scaled inefficient ports of Abidjan and Cotonou should adjust their scale of operations. Then, further investigations were conducted to detect correlations between various variables used in this study. The research found that the absence of any correlation for non-significant variables and negative correlation for the significant variables throughout time resulted from the fact that these variables were not fully utilized. Meaning that they were not efficiently used to boost the container throughput on a scale basis, the research also found that a pandemic or insecurity could easily impact seaports activities with the case of the Ebola outbreak which strucked the West African region from the year 2013 to 2016, or the terrorism threats which prevailed in the region around the year 2012. Thus, for ports to stand out in the present fiercely competitive environment, ports authorities ought to analyze their operational scale to identify whether or not the production size is fitting before further port capacity expansion.
Relative efficiencies of seaport container terminals: a DEA perspective
International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 2005
With the rapid growth of containerisation in world maritime trade, container terminals have undertaken heavier tasks and more important roles to achieve better service quality and agility in the supply chain. Container terminals operate in a fierce competitive environment of international character. Their rivals are their neighbouring ports/seaport terminals, and/or similar facilities within their hinterlands. To accomplish the competitive advantage in global shipping, port managers have undertaken more effort continuously to improve their terminal productivity. However, to sustain competition in their favour it is also essential for managers to undertake benchmarking with the competing terminals. The aim of this paper is to guide port managers to benchmark their organisational performances with their competitors; thereby making necessary arrangements to use their resources more effectively. In this connection, 10 seaport terminals lyingon the coast of the Sea of Marmara and the Mediterranean rim are taken as decision-making units and data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to measure and evaluate their relative performances.
Journal of shipping and trade, 2024
Container ports play a pivotal role in international trade, facilitating the movement of goods and fostering economic development. While much attention has been given to the efficiency of ports in high-income countries, container ports in lowermiddle-income (LMI) countries have received less attention. This paper addresses this research gap by assessing container ports' operational efficiency across diverse LMI countries and determining ways for their efficiency enhancement and management optimization. The cross-sectional data for the year 2012 was collected for 53 container ports in LMI countries. This research utilizes data envelopment analysis, which offers the advantage of considering multiple inputs and outputs. The results show that the overall technical inefficiencies of LMI countries' container ports are mainly due to pure technical inefficiency rather than scale inefficiencies, and the most efficient ports have a combination of large and hub ports. They also reveal that larger ports (as measured by throughput) are not necessarily more efficient than ports with a small production scale. The results of this research can provide government authorities, port authorities, terminal operators, and investors with valuable insights into resource allocation, competitive advantage, and optimization of operating performance.
Logistics & Sustainable Transport, 2015
Seaport efficiency and productivity are the critical factors for handling of goods in the international supply chains and plays an important role in trade exchange with other countries. It is important to evaluate efficiency and productivity of seaports to reflect their status and reveal their position in competitive environment. The main purpose of this article is to use Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Productivity Index to measure the technical efficiency and total factor productivity of container ports. DEA analysis enables one to assess how efficiently a seaports uses the available inputs to generate a set of outputs relative to other units in the data set. This article presents the use CCR and BCC DEA model, to determine overall technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency of container ports. The analysis gives a possibility to create a efficiency ranking of seaports. The study also applies the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI), which was used t...
Assessment of Port Efficiency in West Africa Using Data Envelopment Analysis
American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 2015
The aim of this paper is to apply the DEA method in assessing efficiencies of major ports in West Africa. Six ports were selected based on their container throughput levels, and the DEA model was used to determine their relative efficiencies and their efficiencies over time through window analysis. The DEA model was applied to a number of inputs of port production and a single output (container throughput). It was determined that the Port of Tema in Ghana was the most efficient West African port under study. Although Tema exhibited some inefficiency in its operations, the port was found to make good use of its resources for production. On the other extreme, the Port of Cotonou in Benin was found to be the least efficient port obtaining the lowest average efficiency rating over a seven year period. It was determined that the port exhibited a substantial waste in production. Generally, ports in West Africa could be said to exhibit high levels of efficiency considering that four out of six ports had an average efficiency score of 76% or higher for the period under study.