Benchmarking Regional Hub Port Efficiency: A DEA Window Analysis of the Port of Salalah and Peer Transshipment Hubs (2015–2024)

Resumen

This research examines the operational efficiency of the Port of Salalah (Oman) alongside three major competing transshipment hubs in the Indian Ocean and Gulf region which are Port of Singapore, Colombo Port (Sri Lanka) and the Port of Jebel Ali (UAE) over the period 2015-2024. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) window analysis, based on the CCR model, is applied under input and output-oriented specifications to overcome the limited discriminatory power that conventional cross-sectional DEA suffers due to small decision-making units. For input Berth length, quay length, number of cranes, vessel calls and geo index is used as inputs and annual transshipment throughput (TEU) is considered as output. For the analysis of the results six overlapping five-year windows were constructed to trace efficiency trends over the period. The results shows that Singapore and Jebel Ali maintained consistent high and stable efficiency scores across the study period, Salah has shown a favourable trend during the first three windows before declining from the fourth windows onwards, Colombo recorded the lowest and volatility scores among the ports.