Title: Operational efficiency of major cargo seaports in some developing regions: results from a bootstrap DEA

Authors: Arbia Hlali; Jose Humberto Ablanedo-Rosas; Alex J. Ruiz-Torres

Addresses: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management Science, University of Sfax, P.O. Box 1088, Airport Road, Km 4, Sfax 3018, Tunisia ' Department of Marketing and Management, College of Business Administration, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA ' Facultad de Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras, San Juan, PR 00931-3332, USA

Abstract: This paper's aim is to investigate the efficiency of main ports located in five different developing regions. The consideration of multiple developing regions constitutes a unique geographic setting that has been neglected in the research literature. A sample of 40 ports was studied and the ports' bias corrected efficiency scores were estimated by means of a bootstrap DEA approach. The study is based on data covering the period 2013-2018. The results showed that most of the ports were not operating at their optimal scale and reported an increasing and decreasing trend in their CRS and VRS efficiency scores respectively. Most of the ports have experienced an increase in their operations without attaining the corresponding increase in their technical capabilities. The ports exhibited a dynamic behaviour, which was due to their operational dynamism rather than their infrastructure dynamism. The overall and regional top port performers were identified for benchmarking purposes.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis; DEA; bootstrap data envelopment analysis; ports in developing countries; port efficiency in developing countries; developing regions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2023.129874

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2023 Vol.16 No.3/4, pp.290 - 319

Received: 24 Jan 2021
Accepted: 03 Nov 2021
Published online: 03 Apr 2023 *

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