IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/marecl/v19y2017i1d10.1057_mel.2015.29.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toxic air pollution and container port efficiency in the USA

Author

Listed:
  • Qing Liu

    (Qufu Normal University)

  • Siew Hoon Lim

    (North Dakota State University)

Abstract

Toxic air pollution has long been ignored in port efficiency analysis, especially for US container ports. This article studied both the traditional efficiency and environmental efficiency of the top 20 container ports in the United States using data envelopment analysis. Our results show that the largest container ports in the United States are the most technical and scale efficient. Economies of scale prevail in US container ports and the optimal operational scales have been reached by the largest ones. Environmental efficiency scores are obtained from an environmental sensitive model, which includes two types of toxic air emissions, SOx and PM2.5. Normalized efficiency scores of the traditional model and the environmental sensitive model are compared with find which ports lie the furthest from average performance in terms of air pollution control. The Ports of Palm Beach, Houston and Jacksonville are found to be the best in environmental performance. Overall on average, the 20 container ports could have saved 106 cranes and 14 852 ft of container berths; reduce 543.24 tons of PM2.5 and 4251.52 tons of SOx; and generate 5.8 million more TEUs in 2005, if they were all producing at the production frontier in that year.

Suggested Citation

  • Qing Liu & Siew Hoon Lim, 2017. "Toxic air pollution and container port efficiency in the USA," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 19(1), pages 94-105, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:marecl:v:19:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1057_mel.2015.29
    DOI: 10.1057/mel.2015.29
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/mel.2015.29
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/mel.2015.29?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. Tongzon, Jose L., 1995. "Determinants of port performance and efficiency," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 245-252, May.
    2. Young-Tae Chang, 2013. "Environmental efficiency of ports: a Data Envelopment Analysis approach," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(5), pages 467-478, September.
    3. Cullinane, Kevin & Song, Dong-Wook & Gray, Richard, 2002. "A stochastic frontier model of the efficiency of major container terminals in Asia: assessing the influence of administrative and ownership structures," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 743-762, October.
    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. María Manuela González & Lourdes Trujillo, 2009. "Efficiency Measurement in the Port Industry: A Survey of the Empirical Evidence," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 43(2), pages 157-192, May.
    6. 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.
    7. Teng-Fei Wang & Kevin Cullinane, 2006. "The Efficiency of European Container Terminals and Implications for Supply Chain Management," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 8(1), pages 82-99, March.
    8. Atakelty Hailu & Terrence S. Veeman, 2001. "Non-parametric Productivity Analysis with Undesirable Outputs: An Application to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 605-616.
    9. Cullinane Kevin & Song Dong-Wook & Ji Ping & Wang Teng-Fei, 2004. "An Application of DEA Windows Analysis to Container Port Production Efficiency," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 1-23, June.
    10. Ball, V. Eldon & Lovell, C.A. Knox & Luu, H. & Nehring, Richard F., 2004. "Incorporating Environmental Impacts in the Measurement of Agricultural Productivity Growth," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1-25, December.
    11. Kevin Cullinane & Dong-Wook Song, 2003. "A stochastic frontier model of the productive efficiency of Korean container terminals," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 251-267.
    12. Turner, Hugh & Windle, Robert & Dresner, Martin, 2004. "North American containerport productivity: 1984-1997," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 339-356, July.
    13. 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.
    14. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Poh, K.L., 2008. "A survey of data envelopment analysis in energy and environmental studies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 1-18, August.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Cropper, Maureen L & Oates, Wallace E, 1992. "Environmental Economics: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 675-740, June.
    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. López-Bermúdez, Beatriz & Freire-Seoane, María Jesús & González-Laxe, Fernando, 2019. "Efficiency and productivity of container terminals in Brazilian ports (2008–2017)," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 82-91.
    2. Min Wang & Meng Ji & Xiaofen Wu & Kexin Deng & Xiaodong Jing, 2023. "Analysis on Evaluation and Spatial-Temporal Evolution of Port Cluster Eco-Efficiency: Case Study from the Yangtze River Delta in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, May.
    3. López-Bermúdez, Beatriz & Freire-Seoane, María Jesús & Nieves-Martínez, Diego José, 2019. "Port efficiency in Argentina from 2012 to 2017: An ally for sustained economic growth," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Min Wang & Huayu Li & Yung-ho Chiu & Kexin Deng & Menghua Deng, 2023. "Research on the Carbon Emission Reduction Potential of the Ports in the Yangtze River Delta of China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    5. Chuanxu Wang & Xiaohan Dou & Hercules Haralambides, 2022. "Port centrality and the Composite Connectivity Index: Introducing a new concept in assessing the attractiveness of hub ports," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 24(1), pages 67-91, March.
    6. 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.
    7. Tseng, Po-Hsing & Pilcher, Nick, 2019. "Evaluating the key factors of green port policies in Taiwan through quantitative and qualitative approaches," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 127-137.

    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. 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.
    2. Pérez, Ivone & González, María Manuela & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2020. "Do specialisation and port size affect port efficiency? Evidence from cargo handling service in Spanish ports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 234-249.
    3. 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.
    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. 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.
    6. 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).
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Serebrisky, Tomás & Sarriera, Javier Morales & Suárez-Alemán, Ancor & Araya, Gonzalo & Briceño-Garmendía, Cecilia & Schwartz, Jordan, 2016. "Exploring the drivers of port efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 31-45.
    12. 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.
    13. 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).
    14. Gong, Stephen X.H. & Cullinane, Kevin & Firth, Michael, 2012. "The impact of airport and seaport privatization on efficiency and performance: A review of the international evidence and implications for developing countries," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 37-47.
    15. Angela Stefania Bergantino & Enrico Musso, 2011. "The role of external factors versus managerial ability in determining seaports’ relative efficiency: An input-by-input analysis through a multi-step approach on a panel of Southern European ports," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 13(2), pages 121-141, June.
    16. Hung, Shiu-Wan & Lu, Wen-Min & Wang, Tung-Pao, 2010. "Benchmarking the operating efficiency of Asia container ports," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 706-713, June.
    17. 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.
    18. Pierre CARIOU & Gabriel FIGUEIREDO DE OLIVEIRA, 2015. "Les Déterminants De L'Efficience Portuaire : Une Analyse Des Ports À Conteneurs Méditerranéens," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 41, pages 83-99.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    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:19:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1057_mel.2015.29. 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.