1. ¹International Shipping and Logistics Group, Plymouth Business School, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK. E-mail: tengfei.wang@plymouth.ac.uk
2. ²Marine Transport and Management, School of Marine Science and Technology, Armstrong Building, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle NE1 7RU, UK. E-mail: Kevin.Cullinane@ncl.ac.uk

Abstract

This paper investigates the efficiency of container terminals within the context of global supply chain management. The efficiency and scale properties of 104 of Europe's container terminals with annual throughput of over 10,000 TEUs¹ in 2003, distributed across 29 European countries, are derived using data envelopment analysis. The main findings are that significant inefficiency pervades most of the terminals under study and that large-scale production tends to be associated with higher efficiency. Terminals in the British Isles and Western Europe were found to be the most efficient, compared to their counterparts with the lowest efficiency in Scandinavian and Eastern European countries.