Benchmarking operational efficiency of port terminals using the OEE indicator

The operational data of port terminals is often evaluated by operators and scholars, with the purposes of finding characteristics that lead to superior performance, or identifying the most efficient terminal in a sample. However, most authors and analysts use methodologies that do not allow distinguishing between manageable and unmanageable (exogenous) factors, thus often leading to ambiguous results and making the definition of targets a difficult task. This article proposes a methodology to overcome this limitation, based on the breakdown of the high-level Overall Equipment Effectiveness indicator into a set of indicators, each addressing either manageable or unmanageable factors. Based on this set it is possible to define achievable efficiency targets for each terminal, considering the unique constraints affecting each one.