A hybrid Data Envelopment Analysis and simulation methodology for measuring capacity utilisation and throughput efficiency of container terminals

Abstract

As growth in international trade slowed down in the recent years, inter-modal traffic volume declined and subsequently led to reduction in demand for container services. The reduced demand in container services and the ongoing glut of container port facilities throughout the world have sparked fierce competition among international container terminals. In an effort to help the port authorities to develop a winning strategy in the increasingly competitive container market, this paper develops a meaningful set of benchmarks that will set the standard for best practices. In particular, we propose a hybrid Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)/simulation model that is designed to evaluate the relative efficiency of container terminal operations. To illustrate the usefulness of the proposed hybrid DEA/simulation model, we used the real examples of major container terminals in South Korea.