Bootstrapped operating efficiency in container ports: a case study in Spain and Portugal
Industrial Management & Data Systems
ISSN: 0263-5577
Article publication date: 31 December 2018
Issue publication date: 1 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the functioning of the main Spanish and Portuguese containers ports to observe if they are operating below their production capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the above-mentioned objective, one possible method is to calculate the data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency, and the scale efficiency (SE) of targets, and in order to consider the variability across different samples, a bootstrap scheme has been applied.
Findings
The results showed that the DEA bootstrap-based approach can not only select a suitable unit which accords with a port’s actual input capabilities, but also provides a more accurate result. The bootstrapped results indicate that all ports do not need to develop future investments to expand port infrastructure.
Practical implications
The proposed DEA bootstrap-based approach provides useful implications in the robust measurement of port efficiency considering different samples. The study proves the usefulness of this approach as a decision-making tool in port efficiency.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first studies to apply bootstrap to measure port efficiency under the background of the Spain and Portugal case. In the first stage, two models of DEA have been used to obtain the pure technical, and the technical and SE, and both the input-oriented options: constant return scale and variable return scale. In the second stage, the bootstrap method has been applied in order to determine efficiency rankings of Iberian Peninsula container ports taking into consideration different samples. Confidence interval estimates of efficiency for each port are reported. This paper provides useful insights into the application of a DEA bootstrap-based approach as a modeling tool to aid decision making in measuring port efficiency.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the public companies Puertos del Estado (Spain), Instituto Portuário e dos Transportes Marítimos I.P. (Portugal) and the Port Authority of Algeciras Bay for providing us with all the necessary data for the preparation of this article. The authors also thank Dr Joe Zhu for his invaluable assistance and advice in the choice of the mathematical model and software.
Citation
Gil Ropero, A., Turias Dominguez, I. and Cerbán Jiménez, M.d.M. (2019), "Bootstrapped operating efficiency in container ports: a case study in Spain and Portugal", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 119 No. 4, pp. 924-948. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-03-2018-0132
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited