Efficiency Analysis of Mediterranean Container Ports

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the technical efficiency (productivity) of Mediterranean container ports by employing the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. In recent years, maritime transportation volume has been increasing with the trend of trade globalization. This tendency has positive effects on container cargo flows. Accordingly, container terminals have incessant expansions to meet this growing demand. However, before making an investment in the terminal area or handling equipment, efficiency evaluation is required to reveal optimal throughput with the present resources. As the Mediterranean Basin is an important region for container transportation, there should be studies on the efficiency of container terminals in this region. In this study, relative efficiency analysis is conducted for Mediterranean container ports which are on the list of world busiest container ports based on the year 2016 data. The findings show that subjected container terminals can increase their output by 1,47 times without expanding their inputs. Efficiency is slightly increasing from eastern through the western part of this region.