Connectivity and competitiveness of the major Mediterranean container ports using 'Benefit-of-the-Doubt' and 'Common Sets of Weights' methods in Data Envelopment Analysis

Port connectivity has become a key factor for the competitiveness of countries, ports and importing and exporting companies. In this regard, industries integrated into global value chains are dependent of shipping services and, consequently, the level of port connectivity determines their access to international markets in a reliable and flexible way. Given the growing importance of this issue, this paper aims to study foreland port connectivity by constructing a composite port connectivity indicator applied to the major Mediterranean container ports. In the construction of composite indicators, the weight assigned to each variable is a critical aspect as it affects the objectivity of the score provided. In methodological terms, it can be extremely complex to find the optimal set of weights. For this reason, the present research uses the novel approach of Benefit-of-the-Doubt-type Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), and the Common Set of Weights method in DEA, to generate an accurate weighting scheme. The paper is the first to study the connectivity of major Mediterranean container ports: An area characterised by fierce competition between a large number of hub, gateway and mixed ports, where connectivity is a key factor of their competitiveness.