An application of centralized data envelopment analysis in resource allocation in container terminal operations

This paper presents an application of centralized data envelopment analysis (CDEA) to analyse the performance of a number of container terminals supervised by one liner shipping company. It provides a systematic and centralized perspective of resource reallocation based on one company’s perspective. The numerical results show that two of the five dedicated terminals are, by and large, efficient, but the other three need resources to be reallocated. Under the minor adjustment scenario, the liner shipping company should reduce the aggregated amount of the labour cost and the hauling equipment should be transferred to different terminals in America. Under the major adjustment scenario, both the labour and hauling equipment could be reduced.