IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/marecl/v22y2020i3d10.1057_s41278-019-00119-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Relative size and technical efficiency in peripheral port markets: evidence from Irish and North Atlantic Spanish ports

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Hynes

    (National University of Ireland Galway)

  • Ingrid Mateo-Mantecón

    (University of Cantabria)

  • Eamonn O’Connor

    (National University of Ireland Galway)

  • Andreas Tsakiridis

    (National University of Ireland Galway)

Abstract

In peripheral port markets, a limited volume of traffic creates challenges in sustaining multiple competing port authorities (PAs). With a limited size, smaller ports have difficulty in attracting the necessary traffic flows to leverage capital for development. In many European jurisdictions, recent policy reform has sought to concentrate resources in dominant ports or amalgamate smaller PAs to increase competitiveness and rationalise investments. This paper formally examines the link between port size and achievable efficiencies through an efficiency analysis of Irish and Atlantic Spanish ports. To achieve this, the paper applies a two-step, double-bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to examine the effect of relative size on technical efficiency across the two port systems during the period 2000–2015. The results indicate a positive relationship between size and technical efficiency amongst ports in peripheral regions. As the time period covers the last global financial crisis, it is possible to further explore the effect of the recession and subsequent contraction in the market for port services on the relationship between size and technical efficiency. The findings indicate that the effect of size on technical efficiency becomes even stronger when market contraction is accounted for. Results also show that the efficiency gap between the larger and smaller ports increased considerably after the recession.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Hynes & Ingrid Mateo-Mantecón & Eamonn O’Connor & Andreas Tsakiridis, 2020. "Relative size and technical efficiency in peripheral port markets: evidence from Irish and North Atlantic Spanish ports," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 22(3), pages 383-402, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:marecl:v:22:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1057_s41278-019-00119-5
    DOI: 10.1057/s41278-019-00119-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41278-019-00119-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41278-019-00119-5?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. Carlos Pestana Barros, 2003. "Incentive Regulation and Efficiency of Portuguese Port Authorities," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 5(1), pages 55-69, March.
    2. Coto-Millán, Pablo & Fernández, Xose Luis & Hidalgo, Soraya & Pesquera, Miguel Ángel, 2016. "Public regulation and technical efficiency in the Spanish Port Authorities: 1986–2012," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 139-148.
    3. Brooks, Mary R., 2006. "Chapter 11 Port Devolution and Governance in Canada," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 237-257, January.
    4. 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.
    5. H E Haralambides, 2002. "Competition, Excess Capacity, and the Pricing of Port Infrastructure," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 4(4), pages 323-347, December.
    6. Debrie, Jean & Lavaud-Letilleul, Valérie & Parola, Francesco, 2013. "Shaping port governance: the territorial trajectories of reform," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 56-65.
    7. Oleg Badunenko & Harald Tauchmann, 2019. "Simar and Wilson two-stage efficiency analysis for Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 19(4), pages 950-988, December.
    8. Shaher Z Zahran & Jobair Bin Alam & Abdulrahem H Al-Zahrani & Yiannis Smirlis & Stratos Papadimitriou & Vangelis Tsioumas, 2017. "Analysis of port authority efficiency using data envelopment analysis," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 19(3), pages 518-537, August.
    9. Elisabeth Gouvernal & Jean Debrie & Brian Slack *, 2005. "Dynamics of change in the port system of the western Mediterranean," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 107-121, April.
    10. Figueiredo De Oliveira, Gabriel & Cariou, Pierre, 2015. "The impact of competition on container port (in)efficiency," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 124-133.
    11. Kelvin Balcombe & Iain Fraser & Laure Latruffe & Mizanur Rahman & Laurence Smith, 2008. "An application of the DEA double bootstrap to examine sources of efficiency in Bangladesh rice farming," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(15), pages 1919-1925.
    12. Pablo Coto-Millan & Jose Banos-Pino & Ana Rodriguez-Alvarez, 2000. "Economic efficiency in Spanish ports: some empirical evidence," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 169-174, April.
    13. 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.
    14. Peter W. de Langen & Christiaan Heij, 2014. "Corporatisation and Performance: A Literature Review and an Analysis of the Performance Effects of the Corporatisation of Port of Rotterdam Authority," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 396-414, May.
    15. 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.
    16. Hercules Haralambides, 2017. "Globalization, public sector reform, and the role of ports in international supply chains," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 19(1), pages 1-51, March.
    17. Adolf K Y Ng & Athanasios A Pallis, 2010. "Port Governance Reforms in Diversified Institutional Frameworks: Generic Solutions, Implementation Asymmetries," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(9), pages 2147-2167, September.
    18. Drichoutis, Andreas, 2011. "Interpreting interaction terms in linear and non-linear models: A cautionary tale," MPRA Paper 33251, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Jie Wu & Hong Yan & John Liu, 2010. "DEA models for identifying sensitive performance measures in container port evaluation," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 12(3), pages 215-236, September.
    20. A. Medal-Bartual & M. Molinos-Senante & R. Sala-Garrido, 2016. "Productivity change of the Spanish Port System: impact of the economic crisis," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(6), pages 683-705, August.
    21. Simar, Leopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2007. "Estimation and inference in two-stage, semi-parametric models of production processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 31-64, January.
    22. 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.
    23. Halvor Schøyen & James Odeck, 2013. "The technical efficiency of Norwegian container ports: A comparison to some Nordic and UK container ports using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 15(2), pages 197-221, June.
    24. 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.
    25. Carlos Pestana Barros, 2006. "A Benchmark Analysis of Italian Seaports Using Data Envelopment Analysis," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 8(4), pages 347-365, December.
    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. Theo Notteboom & Chris Coeck & Julien Van Den Broeck, 2000. "Measuring and Explaining the Relative Efficiency of Container Terminals by Means of Bayesian Stochastic Frontier Models," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 2(2), pages 83-106, June.
    28. Pierre Cariou & Claudio Ferrari & Francesco Parola, 2014. "Addressing special challenges in maritime and port logistics," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 425-429, September.
    29. Notteboom, Theo E., 2010. "Concentration and the formation of multi-port gateway regions in the European container port system: an update," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 567-583.
    30. Theo E. Notteboom & Willy Winkelmans, 2001. "Structural changes in logistics: how will port authorities face the challenge?," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 71-89, January.
    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. Tsakiridis, Andreas & Mateo-Mantecón, Ingrid & O'Connor, Eamonn & Hynes, Stephen & O'Donoghue, Cathal, 2021. "Efficiency benchmarking of Irish and North Atlantic Spanish ports: Implications for blue growth," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    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. Hynes, S. & Mateo-Mantecón, I. & O’Connor, E. & Tsakiridis, A., 2019. "Examining the relationship between relative size and technical efficiency in peripheral port markets: Evidence from Irish and North Atlantic Spanish ports," Working Papers 309603, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    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. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Tsakiridis, Andreas & Mateo-Mantecón, Ingrid & O'Connor, Eamonn & Hynes, Stephen & O'Donoghue, Cathal, 2021. "Efficiency benchmarking of Irish and North Atlantic Spanish ports: Implications for blue growth," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. Caldeirinha, Vitor R. & Felicio, J. Augusto, 2011. "A influência dos factores de caracterização dos portos no desempenho, medido por indicadores operacionais, financeiros e de eficiência [The influence of factors characterizing the performance of po," MPRA Paper 30009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Carlos Barros & Hercules Haralambides & Mohamed Hussain & Nicolas Perpoch, 2011. "Seaport Efficiency and Productivity Growth," Chapters, in: Kevin Cullinane (ed.), International Handbook of Maritime Economics, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Angela Stefania Bergantino & Enrico Musso, 2011. "A Multi-step Approach to Model the Relative Efficiency of European Ports: The Role of Regulation and Other Non-discretionary Factors," Chapters, in: Kevin Cullinane (ed.), International Handbook of Maritime Economics, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. 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).
    17. Kammoun, Rabeb & Abdennadher, Chokri, 2022. "Seaport efficiency and competitiveness in European seaports," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 113-124.
    18. Sun, Jiasen & Yuan, Yang & Yang, Rui & Ji, Xiang & Wu, Jie, 2017. "Performance evaluation of Chinese port enterprises under significant environmental concerns: An extended DEA-based analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 75-86.
    19. 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.
    20. Rabeb KAMMOUN & Souhir ABBES, 2020. "The technical efficiency of Tunisian ports: Comparing data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis scores," Romanian Journal of Economics, Institute of National Economy, vol. 51(2(60)), pages 83-102, December.

    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:pal:marecl:v:22:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1057_s41278-019-00119-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.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.