IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v162y2025icp128-154.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Balancing economic and environmental strategies in regional hinterland transport: A dynamic network cross efficiency analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Jiang, Xiaodan
  • Zhan, Zhifan
  • Ren, Wei
  • Tao, Xuezong
  • Zheng, Shiyuan
  • Luo, Meifeng

Abstract

Regional seaport hinterland transport network development strategies aim to maximize economic benefits while simultaneously mitigating environmental impacts. Tracking hinterland transport's environmental efficiency is crucial for monitoring and improving sustainable transport policies in regional seaports. Previous research mainly employs static self-assessment models under a single objective, overlooking multi-modal hinterland transport routes. This study introduces network cross-efficiency data envelopment analysis models to assess the efficiency of regional seaport hinterland transport, balancing economic and environmental strategies. We further employ the cross-efficiency global Malmquist productivity index to examine dynamic changes and emission reduction potential. We find that hub seaports advance faster than smaller seaports. Road-rail transport constantly showcases high efficiency. Hinterland transport's efficiencies under environment priority strategy show a weak positive correlation with balanced strategy, and a moderate negative correlation with economy priority strategy. Efficiency improvements in road and road-rail transport can be achieved through enhanced management, while technological innovation is key for road-inland waterway transport. The models and outcomes provide valuable insights for developing sustainable inland transport policies balancing economic growth and emission reduction in regional seaports.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiang, Xiaodan & Zhan, Zhifan & Ren, Wei & Tao, Xuezong & Zheng, Shiyuan & Luo, Meifeng, 2025. "Balancing economic and environmental strategies in regional hinterland transport: A dynamic network cross efficiency analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 128-154.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:162:y:2025:i:c:p:128-154
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2024.11.024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X24003615
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2024.11.024?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kirschstein, Thomas & Meisel, Frank, 2015. "GHG-emission models for assessing the eco-friendliness of road and rail freight transports," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 13-33.
    2. Chang, Young-Tae & Zhang, Ning & Danao, Denise & Zhang, Nan, 2013. "Environmental efficiency analysis of transportation system in China: A non-radial DEA approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 277-283.
    3. Meng, Conghui & Du, Xiaoyun & Zhu, Mengcheng & Ren, Yitian & Fang, Kai, 2023. "The static and dynamic carbon emission efficiency of transport industry in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    4. Rolf Färe & Shawna Grosskopf & Carl A Pasurka, Jr., 2001. "Accounting for Air Pollution Emissions in Measures of State Manufacturing Productivity Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 381-409, August.
    5. Guo, Xiaoyan & He, Junliang & Yu, Hang & Liu, Mei, 2023. "Carbon peak simulation and peak pathway analysis for hub-and-spoke container intermodal network," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    6. Bhatia, Vinod & Sharma, Seema, 2024. "Trends and policy analysis: A case for sustainable transport systems in India," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 76-86.
    7. Yan, Xinping & He, Yapeng & Fan, Ailong, 2023. "Carbon footprint prediction considering the evolution of alternative fuels and cargo: A case study of Yangtze river ships," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Li, Tao & Yang, Wenyue & Zhang, Haoran & Cao, Xiaoshu, 2016. "Evaluating the impact of transport investment on the efficiency of regional integrated transport systems in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 66-76.
    10. 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.
    11. Liao, Chun-Hsiung & Lu, Chin-Shan & Tseng, Po-Hsing, 2011. "Carbon dioxide emissions and inland container transport in Taiwan," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 722-728.
    12. Kao, Chiang & Liu, Shiang-Tai, 2019. "Cross efficiency measurement and decomposition in two basic network systems," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 70-79.
    13. Tao, Xuezong & Wu, Qin & Zhu, Lichao, 2017. "Mitigation potential of CO2 emissions from modal shift induced by subsidy in hinterland container transport," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 265-273.
    14. Martínez-Moya, Julián & Feo-Valero, María, 2022. "Do shippers’ characteristics influence port choice criteria? Capturing heterogeneity by using latent class models," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 96-105.
    15. Jiang, Xiaodan & Fan, Houming & Luo, Meifeng & Xu, Zhenlin, 2020. "Strategic port competition in multimodal network development considering shippers’ choice," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 68-89.
    16. Zhao, Y. & Triantis, K. & Murray-Tuite, P. & Edara, P., 2011. "Performance measurement of a transportation network with a downtown space reservation system: A network-DEA approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1140-1159.
    17. Gibbs, David & Rigot-Muller, Patrick & Mangan, John & Lalwani, Chandra, 2014. "The role of sea ports in end-to-end maritime transport chain emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 337-348.
    18. Wen-Hsien Tsai & Hsiu-Li Lee & Chih-Hao Yang & Chung-Chen Huang, 2016. "Input-Output Analysis for Sustainability by Using DEA Method: A Comparison Study between European and Asian Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-17, November.
    19. Saeedi, Hamid & Behdani, Behzad & Wiegmans, Bart & Zuidwijk, Rob, 2019. "Assessing the technical efficiency of intermodal freight transport chains using a modified network DEA approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 66-86.
    20. Iannone, Fedele, 2012. "The private and social cost efficiency of port hinterland container distribution through a regional logistics system," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1424-1448.
    21. Losa, Eduardo Tola & Arjomandi, Amir & Hervé Dakpo, K. & Bloomfield, Jason, 2020. "Efficiency comparison of airline groups in Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries: A dynamic network DEA approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 163-174.
    22. Liu, Lei & Wang, Ke & Wang, Shanshan & Zhang, Ruiqin & Tang, Xiaoyan, 2018. "Assessing energy consumption, CO2 and pollutant emissions and health benefits from China's transport sector through 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 382-396.
    23. Woo, Chungwon & Chung, Yanghon & Chun, Dongphil & Seo, Hangyeol & Hong, Sungjun, 2015. "The static and dynamic environmental efficiency of renewable energy: A Malmquist index analysis of OECD countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 367-376.
    24. Song, Malin & An, Qingxian & Zhang, Wei & Wang, Zeya & Wu, Jie, 2012. "Environmental efficiency evaluation based on data envelopment analysis: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4465-4469.
    25. Lampe, Hannes W. & Hilgers, Dennis, 2015. "Trajectories of efficiency measurement: A bibliometric analysis of DEA and SFA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 1-21.
    26. Pastor, Jesus T. & Lovell, C.A. Knox, 2005. "A global Malmquist productivity index," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 266-271, August.
    27. Cui, Qiang & Li, Ye, 2020. "A cross efficiency distinguishing method to explore the cooperation degree in dynamic airline environmental efficiency," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 31-43.
    28. Yu, Ming-Miin & Chen, Li-Hsueh & Hsiao, Bo, 2018. "A performance-based subsidy allocation of ferry transportation: A data envelopment approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 13-19.
    29. Omrani, Hashem & Yang, Zijiang & Karbasian, Arash & Teplova, Tamara, 2023. "Combination of top-down and bottom-up DEA models using PCA: A two-stage network DEA with shared input and undesirable output for evaluation of the road transport sector," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    30. Guo, Taolei & Liu, Pei & Wang, Chao & Xie, Jingci & Du, Jianbang & Lim, Ming K., 2023. "Toward sustainable port-hinterland transportation: A holistic approach to design modal shift policy mixes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    31. Yen, Barbara T.H. & Li, Jun-Sheng, 2022. "Route-based performance evaluation for airlines – A metafrontier data envelopment analysis approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    32. Tao, Xiangyang & Zhao, Jing & Hong, Jingke & Xiao, Fei, 2024. "Pathway towards carbon peaking cities in the Chinese transport sector," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 39-53.
    33. Dadashpoor, Hashem & Arasteh, Mojtaba, 2020. "Core-port connectivity: Towards shaping a national hinterland in a West Asia country," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 57-68.
    34. Lättilä, Lauri & Henttu, Ville & Hilmola, Olli-Pekka, 2013. "Hinterland operations of sea ports do matter: Dry port usage effects on transportation costs and CO2 emissions," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 23-42.
    35. Färe, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Pasurka, Carl A., 2007. "Environmental production functions and environmental directional distance functions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1055-1066.
    36. Sun, Xiaoqian & Zheng, Changhong & Li, Jiachang & Jiang, Changmin & Zhang, Anming & Wandelt, Sebastian, 2024. "A review on research regarding HSR interactions with air transport and outlook for future research challenges," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 74-85.
    37. Eduardo Tola Losa & Amir Arjomandi & K. Hervé Dakpo & Jason Bloomfield, 2020. "Efficiency comparison of airline groups in Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries: A dynamic network DEA approach [Comparaison de l'efficacité des groupes de compagnies aériennes dans les pays de l'Anne," Post-Print hal-03151906, HAL.
    38. Seiford, Lawrence M. & Zhu, Joe, 2002. "Modeling undesirable factors in efficiency evaluation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 16-20, October.
    39. Mardani, Abbas & Zavadskas, Edmundas Kazimieras & Streimikiene, Dalia & Jusoh, Ahmad & Khoshnoudi, Masoumeh, 2017. "A comprehensive review of data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in energy efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1298-1322.
    40. Zheng Chang & Theo Notteboom & Jing Lu, 2015. "A two-phase model for dry port location with an application to the port of Dalian in China," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 442-464, June.
    41. Liu, Jiaguo & Wang, Xiaoye & Guo, Junyu, 2021. "Port efficiency and its influencing factors in the context of Pilot Free Trade Zones," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 67-79.
    42. Witte, Patrick & Wiegmans, Bart & Ng, Adolf K.Y., 2019. "A critical review on the evolution and development of inland port research," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 53-61.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ning Zhang & Jong-Dae Kim, 2014. "Measuring sustainability by Energy Efficiency Analysis for Korean Power Companies: A Sequential Slacks-Based Efficiency Measure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Feng, Chao & Wang, Miao, 2018. "Analysis of energy efficiency in China's transportation sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 565-575.
    3. Sedef E. Kara & Mustapha D. Ibrahim & Sahand Daneshvar, 2021. "Dual Efficiency and Productivity Analysis of Renewable Energy Alternatives of OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-14, July.
    4. Yu, Dejian & He, Xiaorong, 2020. "A bibliometric study for DEA applied to energy efficiency: Trends and future challenges," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    5. Ganji, S.S. & Tirkolaee, Erfan Babaee & Jahed, Rasul, 2024. "Evaluating the performance of intercity road freight transport: Double-frontier parallel network cross-efficiency model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    6. Quintano, Claudio & Mazzocchi, Paolo & Rocca, Antonella, 2021. "Evaluation of the eco-efficiency of territorial districts with seaport economic activities," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Xiaodong Chen & Anda Guo & Jiahao Zhu & Fang Wang & Yanqiu He, 2022. "Accessing performance of transport sector considering risks of climate change and traffic accidents: joint bounded-adjusted measure and Luenberger decomposition," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(1), pages 115-138, March.
    8. Zhang, Bin & Lu, Danting & He, Yan & Chiu, Yung-ho, 2018. "The efficiencies of resource-saving and environment: A case study based on Chinese cities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 493-507.
    9. Dothang Truong, 2025. "Assessing the Economic Sustainability of Airlines in the U.S. Through Labor Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-29, May.
    10. Abbas Mardani & Dalia Streimikiene & Tomas Balezentis & Muhamad Zameri Mat Saman & Khalil Md Nor & Seyed Meysam Khoshnava, 2018. "Data Envelopment Analysis in Energy and Environmental Economics: An Overview of the State-of-the-Art and Recent Development Trends," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, August.
    11. Taylan G. Topcu & Konstantinos Triantis, 2022. "An ex-ante DEA method for representing contextual uncertainties and stakeholder risk preferences," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 309(1), pages 395-423, February.
    12. Ji, Wei & Huang, Zhengfeng & Gao, Gao & Zheng, Pengjun, 2024. "Evaluation of integrated transport efficiency and equity at the county level——taking the counties in ningbo city as an example," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 257-272.
    13. Holden, R. & Xu, B. & Greening, P. & Piecyk, M. & Dadhich, P., 2016. "Towards a common measure of greenhouse gas related logistics activity using data envelopment analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 105-119.
    14. Long, Xingle & Wu, Chao & Zhang, Jijian & Zhang, Jing, 2018. "Environmental efficiency for 192 thermal power plants in the Yangtze River Delta considering heterogeneity: A metafrontier directional slacks-based measure approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3962-3971.
    15. Wang, Ke & Wei, Yi-Ming & Huang, Zhimin, 2018. "Environmental efficiency and abatement efficiency measurements of China's thermal power industry: A data envelopment analysis based materials balance approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(1), pages 35-50.
    16. Hashem Omrani & Khatereh Shafaat & Arash Alizadeh, 2019. "Integrated data envelopment analysis and cooperative game for evaluating energy efficiency of transportation sector: a case of Iran," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 274(1), pages 471-499, March.
    17. Gang Tian & Jian Shi & Licheng Sun & Xingle Long & Benhai Guo, 2017. "Dynamic changes in the energy–carbon performance of Chinese transportation sector: a meta-frontier non-radial directional distance function approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 89(2), pages 585-607, November.
    18. Víctor Giménez & Claudio Thieme & Diego Prior & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2014. "An international comparison of educational systems: an application of the global Malmquist-Luenberger index," Working Papers 2014/18, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    19. Yin, Pengzhen & Sun, Jiasen & Chu, Junfei & Liang, Liang, 2016. "Evaluating the environmental efficiency of a two-stage system with undesired outputs by a DEA approach: An interest preference perspectiveAuthor-Name: Wu, Jie," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 254(3), pages 1047-1062.
    20. Jiang, Lei & Zhou, Haifeng & He, Shixiong, 2021. "Does energy efficiency increase at the expense of output performance: Evidence from manufacturing firms in Jiangsu province, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).

    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:eee:trapol:v:162:y:2025:i:c:p:128-154. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    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.