Efficiency measurement of container ports - a new opportunity for hinterland integration

Changes in international production networks and maritime transport lead to a growing importance of container ports as nodes in international supply chains. Based on technology development and time-critical global production patterns ports are confronted with rising expectations on the performance of their sea and land side operations as well as on the seamless distribution of goods to the hinterland. In order to assess the comparative performance of ports in supply chains it has been accepted that efficiency ratings determined through benchmarking can be powerful tools. Next to simple key performance indicators complex production functions have experienced approval due to their ability to compare independent multiple input and output criteria. To benchmark container terminals the frontier function Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been applied frequently in the past ten years. But as the sea leg is in the main focus of past studies, measuring the efficiency of port hinterland connections still needs further clarification in the context of integrated supply chains.