IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i12p2278-d122247.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Water Transport Efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Zone, China

Author

Listed:
  • Dan He

    (Center for Modern Chinese City Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
    School of Urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China)

  • Peng Gao

    (Center for Modern Chinese City Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
    School of Urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China)

  • Zhijing Sun

    (School of Urban and Regional Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China)

  • Yui-yip Lau

    (Division of Business, Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
    Transport Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V4, Canada
    School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TH, UK)

Abstract

Water transport, a component of integrated transport systems, is a key strategic resource for achieving sustainable economic and social development, particularly in the Yangtze River Economic Zone (YREZ). Unfortunately, systematic studies on water transport efficiency are not forthcoming. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist index as a model framework, this paper measures water transport efficiency in YREZ, conducts spatial analysis to identify the leading factors influencing efficiency, and provides scientific evidence for a macroscopic grasp of water transport development and the optimization of YREZ. The results indicate that water transport technical efficiency (TE) in YREZ is low and in fluctuating decline. Therefore, it has seriously restricted performance and improvements in the service function. Additionally, the spatial pattern of TE has gradually changed from complexity and dispersion to clarity and contiguity with a larger inter-provincial gap. Water transport efficiency has slightly improved through technological change (TECHch), whereas deteriorating pure technical efficiency change (PEch) is the main cause of a TE decrease. According to our findings, decision-makers should consider strengthening intra-port competition and promoting water transport efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan He & Peng Gao & Zhijing Sun & Yui-yip Lau, 2017. "Measuring Water Transport Efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Zone, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2278-:d:122247
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2278/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2278/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M C A S Portela & E Thanassoulis & A Horncastle & T Maugg, 2011. "Productivity change in the water industry in England and Wales: application of the meta-Malmquist index," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(12), pages 2173-2188, December.
    2. Ester Gutiérrez & Sebastián Lozano & Salvador Furió, 2014. "Evaluating efficiency of international container shipping lines: A bootstrap DEA approach," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 16(1), pages 55-71, March.
    3. De Borger, Bruno & Kerstens, Kristiaan, 1996. "Cost efficiency of Belgian local governments: A comparative analysis of FDH, DEA, and econometric approaches," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 145-170, April.
    4. Pedro Cantos & José Pastor & Lorenzo Serrano, 1999. "Productivity, efficiency and technical change in the European railways: A non-parametric approach," Transportation, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 337-357, November.
    5. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    6. González, MarI´a Manuela & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2008. "Reforms and infrastructure efficiency in Spain's container ports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 243-257, January.
    7. Y.Y. Lau & César Ducruet & Adolf Ng & X. Fu, 2017. "Across the waves : A bibliometric analysis of container shipping research since the 1960s," Post-Print hal-03246929, HAL.
    8. Hidekazu Itoh, 2002. "Effeciency Changes at Major Container Ports in Japan: A Window Application of Data Envelopment Analysis," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 133-152, July.
    9. Yui-yip Lau & César Ducruet & Adolf K. Y. Ng & Xiaowen Fu, 2017. "Across the waves: a bibliometric analysis of container shipping research since the 1960s," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(6), pages 667-684, August.
    10. Wu, Yen-Chun Jim & Goh, Mark, 2010. "Container port efficiency in emerging and more advanced markets," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1030-1042, November.
    11. Ro-Kyung Park & Prabir De, 2004. "An Alternative Approach to Efficiency Measurement of Seaports," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 6(1), pages 53-69, March.
    12. Tsz Leung Yip & Y. H. Venus Lun & Yui Yip Lau, 2012. "Scale diseconomies and efficiencies of liner shipping," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(7), pages 673-683, December.
    13. Zhu, Joe, 1996. "Robustness of the efficient DMUs in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 451-460, May.
    14. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Diewert, W Erwin, 1982. "The Economic Theory of Index Numbers and the Measurement of Input, Output, and Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1393-1414, November.
    15. Woo, Su-Han & Pettit, Stephen J. & Kwak, Dong-Wook & Beresford, Anthony K.C., 2011. "Seaport research: A structured literature review on methodological issues since the 1980s," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 667-685, August.
    16. Carlos Pestana Barros & Manolis Athanassiou, 2004. "Efficiency in European Seaports with DEA: Evidence from Greece and Portugal," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 6(2), pages 122-140, June.
    17. Cullinane, Kevin & Wang, Teng-Fei & Song, Dong-Wook & Ji, Ping, 2006. "The technical efficiency of container ports: Comparing data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 354-374, May.
    18. Boame, Attah K., 2004. "The technical efficiency of Canadian urban transit systems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 401-416, September.
    19. Górniak Joanna, 2014. "Transport Accessibility In Light Of The DEA Method," Comparative Economic Research, Sciendo, vol. 17(4), pages 55-70, December.
    20. Ramanathan, R., 2000. "A holistic approach to compare energy efficiencies of different transport modes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 743-747, September.
    21. Emrouznejad, Ali & Anouze, Abdel Latef & Thanassoulis, Emmanuel, 2010. "A semi-oriented radial measure for measuring the efficiency of decision making units with negative data, using DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(1), pages 297-304, January.
    22. Gabriel Figueiredo de Oliveira & Pierre Cariou, 2011. "A DEA study of the efficiency of 122 iron ore and coal ports and of 15/17 countries in 2005," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(7), pages 727-743, May.
    23. R. G. Chambers & Y. Chung & R. Färe, 1998. "Profit, Directional Distance Functions, and Nerlovian Efficiency," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 351-364, August.
    24. P. Simões & R.C. Marques, 2010. "Seaport performance analysis using robust non-parametric efficiency estimators," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(5), pages 435-451, June.
    25. Yui-Yip Lau & César Ducruet & Adolf K. Y. Ng & Xiaowen Fu, 2017. "Across the waves: a bibliometric analysis of container shipping research since the 1960s," Post-Print halshs-01619362, HAL.
    26. Tongzon, Jose, 2001. "Efficiency measurement of selected Australian and other international ports using data envelopment analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 107-122, February.
    27. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    28. Barnum, Darold T. & Karlaftis, Matthew G. & Tandon, Sonali, 2011. "Improving the efficiency of metropolitan area transit by joint analysis of its multiple providers," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1160-1176.
    29. Odeck, James & Bråthen, Svein, 2012. "A meta-analysis of DEA and SFA studies of the technical efficiency of seaports: A comparison of fixed and random-effects regression models," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1574-1585.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yu Song & Bingrui Liu & Xiaohong Chen & Jia Liu, 2020. "Atmospheric Pollution Mapping of the Yangtze River Basin: An AQI-Based Weighted Co-Word Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Dan He & Zhijing Sun & Peng Gao, 2019. "Development of Economic Integration in the Central Yangtze River Megaregion from the Perspective of Urban Network Evolution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Wenjie Li & Jialing Dai & Yi Xiao & Shengfa Yang & Chenpeng Song, 2021. "Estimating waterway freight demand at Three Gorges ship lock on Yangtze River by backpropagation neural network modeling," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 23(3), pages 495-521, September.
    4. Breno Tostes de Gomes Garcia & Diana Mery Messias Lopes & Ilton Curty Leal Junior & José Carlos Cesar Amorim & Marcelino Aurélio Vieira da Silva & Vanessa de Almeida Guimarães, 2019. "Analysis of the Performance of Transporting Soybeans from Mato Grosso for Export: A Case Study of the Tapajós-Teles Pires Waterway," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-26, November.
    5. Andrej David & Peter Mako & Jan Lizbetin & Patrik Bohm, 2021. "The Impact of an Environmental Way of Customer’s Thinking on a Range of Choice from Transport Routes in Maritime Transport," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Merkel, Axel & Holmgren, Johan, 2017. "Dredging the depths of knowledge: Efficiency analysis in the maritime port sector," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 63-74.
    2. Evelin Krmac & Mozhgan Mansouri Kaleibar, 2023. "A comprehensive review of data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology in port efficiency evaluation," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(4), pages 817-881, December.
    3. Güner, Samet, 2015. "Investigating infrastructure, superstructure, operating and financial efficiency in the management of Turkish seaports using data envelopment analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 36-48.
    4. Nicole Adler & Georg Hirte & Shravana Kumar & Hans-Martin Niemeier, 2022. "The impact of specialization, ownership, competition and regulation on efficiency: a case study of Indian seaports," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 24(3), pages 507-536, September.
    5. Mahmoudi, Reza & Emrouznejad, Ali & Shetab-Boushehri, Seyyed-Nader & Hejazi, Seyed Reza, 2020. "The origins, development and future directions of data envelopment analysis approach in transportation systems," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Suárez-Alemán, Ancor & Morales Sarriera, Javier & Serebrisky, Tomás & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2016. "When it comes to container port efficiency, are all developing regions equal?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 56-77.
    7. Suárez-Alemán, Ancor & Morales Sarriera, Javier & Serebrisky, Tomás & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2016. "When it comes to container port efficiency, are all developing regions equal?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 56-77.
    8. Odeck, James & Schøyen, Halvor, 2020. "Productivity and convergence in Norwegian container seaports: An SFA-based Malmquist productivity index approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 222-239.
    9. Cullinane, Kevin & Song, Dong-Wook, 2006. "Estimating the Relative Efficiency of European Container Ports: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 85-115, January.
    10. Shaher Z. Zahran & Jobair Bin Alam & Abdulrahem H. Al-Zahrani & Yiannis Smirlis & Stratos Papadimitriou & Vangelis Tsioumas, 2020. "Analysis of port efficiency using imprecise and incomplete data," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 219-246, March.
    11. Shilin Ye & Xinhua Qi & Yecheng Xu, 2020. "Analyzing the relative efficiency of China’s Yangtze River port system," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 22(4), pages 640-660, December.
    12. Hong-Oanh Nguyen & Hong-Van Nguyen & Young-Tae Chang & Anthony T. H. Chin & Jose Tongzon, 2016. "Measuring port efficiency using bootstrapped DEA: the case of Vietnamese ports," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 644-659, July.
    13. Cavaignac, Laurent & Petiot, Romain, 2017. "A quarter century of Data Envelopment Analysis applied to the transport sector: A bibliometric analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 84-96.
    14. Yuen, Andrew Chi-lok & Zhang, Anming & Cheung, Waiman, 2013. "Foreign participation and competition: A way to improve the container port efficiency in China?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 220-231.
    15. Hong-Oanh Nguyen & Hong-Son Nghiem & Young-Tae Chang, 2018. "A regional perspective of port performance using metafrontier analysis: the case study of Vietnamese ports," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 20(1), pages 112-130, March.
    16. Odeck, James & Bråthen, Svein, 2012. "A meta-analysis of DEA and SFA studies of the technical efficiency of seaports: A comparison of fixed and random-effects regression models," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1574-1585.
    17. Gong, Xiaoxing & Wu, Xiaofan & Luo, Meifeng, 2019. "Company performance and environmental efficiency: A case study for shipping enterprises," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 96-106.
    18. Shui-Mu Ju & Nan Liu, 2015. "Efficiency and its influencing factors in port enterprises: empirical evidence from Chinese port-listed companies," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 571-590, August.
    19. Sonal Seth & Qianmei Feng, 2020. "Assessment of port efficiency using stepwise selection and window analysis in data envelopment analysis," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 22(4), pages 536-561, December.
    20. Gonzalez, M. & Trujillo, L., 2007. "Efficiency measurement in the port industry: a survey of the empirical evidence," Working Papers 07/08, Department of Economics, City University London.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2278-:d:122247. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.