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Efficiency in Chinese seaports: 2002–2012

Maritime Economics & Logistics Aims and scope

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Abstract

This article assesses the impacts of cost and operational variables on major Chinese ports by means of a stochastic frontier model on a panel data from 2002 to 2012. More precisely, both random and fixed-effect stochastic models are used in the analyses to cross-validate the results. Findings suggest that there is considerable heterogeneity in China’s seaports, affecting their cost efficiency estimation. Moreover, remote port locations are shown to exhibit lower efficiency, while larger ports appear to be more efficient. Port heterogeneity is therefore shown to be a policy criterion the importance of which could in no way be understated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, University of Lisbon, Rua Miguel Lupi, 20, Lisbon, 1249-078, Portugal

    Carlos Pestana Barros

  2. School of Economics, Jinan University, Huangpu Road 601, Guangzhou, China

    Zhongfei Chen

  3. COPPEAD Graduate Business School, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Paschoal Lemme, 355, Rio de Janeiro, CEP 21949-900, Brazil

    Peter Wanke

Authors
  1. Carlos Pestana Barros
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  2. Zhongfei Chen
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  3. Peter Wanke
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Correspondence to Carlos Pestana Barros.

Appendix

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Figure A1

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figure 2

The location and map of Chinese seaports.

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Barros, C., Chen, Z. & Wanke, P. Efficiency in Chinese seaports: 2002–2012. Marit Econ Logist 18, 295–316 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/mel.2015.4

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