Technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in India

Despite the number of studies on the efficiency of container ports, most studies are of developed nations, and very few are of developing nations, such as India. Indian container ports are very critical due to their location advantage and their ability to handle transhipment traffic. There is a need...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: K. Chandrasekhar Iyer, V.P.S. Nihar Nanyam
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021-03-01
Series:Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2092521220300420
_version_ 1818390270418354176
author K. Chandrasekhar Iyer
V.P.S. Nihar Nanyam
author_facet K. Chandrasekhar Iyer
V.P.S. Nihar Nanyam
author_sort K. Chandrasekhar Iyer
collection DOAJ
description Despite the number of studies on the efficiency of container ports, most studies are of developed nations, and very few are of developing nations, such as India. Indian container ports are very critical due to their location advantage and their ability to handle transhipment traffic. There is a need to understand their performance at the micro-level, specifically the terminal level rather than that of the whole port. This paper focuses on the analysis of the technical efficiency of 26 container terminals in India using a data envelopment analysis approach for the years 2015–2018 and interprets it with respect to location advantage, administrative control and private control of terminal operations. The research explores the Malmquist index which measures productivity changes over a period of time and deconstructs them into two components, namely efficiency change, referred to as catch-up, and frontier shift. This study enabled the ranking of these terminals in terms of their performances. The relative efficiency of container terminals on the west coast of India is found to be better than that of the east coast of India, and the efficiency of container terminals operating under major ports is on a declining path when compared with that of minor ports. The private participation has also not seen similar productivity changes across all container terminals. Among the seven high performing container terminals identified through the analysis provided, the terminal at Tuticorin emerged as the most consistent one in terms of relative efficiency and growth in total factor productivity. The dominant factor influencing the efficiency of a terminal is found to be the size of the terminal, offering the advantages of economies of scale.
first_indexed 2024-12-14T04:54:58Z
format Article
id doaj.art-43df5839e57b46e59e36bbd8640a5ad4
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2092-5212
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-14T04:54:58Z
publishDate 2021-03-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics
spelling doaj.art-43df5839e57b46e59e36bbd8640a5ad42022-12-21T23:16:25ZengElsevierAsian Journal of Shipping and Logistics2092-52122021-03-013716172Technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in IndiaK. Chandrasekhar Iyer0V.P.S. Nihar Nanyam1Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, 110016, IndiaDepartment of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, India; Asst. Professor, RICS School of Built Environment, Amity University, New Delhi 110016, India; Corresponding author.Despite the number of studies on the efficiency of container ports, most studies are of developed nations, and very few are of developing nations, such as India. Indian container ports are very critical due to their location advantage and their ability to handle transhipment traffic. There is a need to understand their performance at the micro-level, specifically the terminal level rather than that of the whole port. This paper focuses on the analysis of the technical efficiency of 26 container terminals in India using a data envelopment analysis approach for the years 2015–2018 and interprets it with respect to location advantage, administrative control and private control of terminal operations. The research explores the Malmquist index which measures productivity changes over a period of time and deconstructs them into two components, namely efficiency change, referred to as catch-up, and frontier shift. This study enabled the ranking of these terminals in terms of their performances. The relative efficiency of container terminals on the west coast of India is found to be better than that of the east coast of India, and the efficiency of container terminals operating under major ports is on a declining path when compared with that of minor ports. The private participation has also not seen similar productivity changes across all container terminals. Among the seven high performing container terminals identified through the analysis provided, the terminal at Tuticorin emerged as the most consistent one in terms of relative efficiency and growth in total factor productivity. The dominant factor influencing the efficiency of a terminal is found to be the size of the terminal, offering the advantages of economies of scale.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2092521220300420Container terminalsData envelopment analysisEfficiencyMalmquist indexRanking
spellingShingle K. Chandrasekhar Iyer
V.P.S. Nihar Nanyam
Technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in India
Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics
Container terminals
Data envelopment analysis
Efficiency
Malmquist index
Ranking
title Technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in India
title_full Technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in India
title_fullStr Technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in India
title_full_unstemmed Technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in India
title_short Technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in India
title_sort technical efficiency analysis of container terminals in india
topic Container terminals
Data envelopment analysis
Efficiency
Malmquist index
Ranking
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2092521220300420
work_keys_str_mv AT kchandrasekhariyer technicalefficiencyanalysisofcontainerterminalsinindia
AT vpsniharnanyam technicalefficiencyanalysisofcontainerterminalsinindia