Evaluation of Investment Impact on Port Efficiency: Berthing Time Difference as a Performance Indicator

Highly competitive nature of port business environment puts heavy pressure on port operators on performance related issues. In order to be competitive, after all the other strategic moves are exhausted, what is left is to improve the performance of a port by means of increasing the number of vessels calling the port. One way to achieve this goal is to minimize the time spent at port for each vessel. Using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to evaluate its efficiency, this paper analyzes a port which made investments in order to improve this issue with berthing time difference (BTD) as the output. The results show that DEA method can be a valuable tool for port operators in evaluating the efficiency of their investments.