The present study measured the relative efficiency of five major commercial ports in West Africa, using three different Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methods, the CCR, BCC, and Windows I-C methods over the years 2005-2016. Seven input variables and one output variable were used in the model analysis. The CCR and BCC methods were used to evaluate the technical and scale efficiency while the Windows I-C method provided a comprehensive ranking of the studied ports. The results showed that the scale efficiency score of 89.53% indicated that on average the production scale of the ports had deviated from the most productive scale size (MPSS) by 10.47%. These results revealed that the source of the overall inefficiency is due to scale rather than pure technical inefficiency. Hence, in order to improve the overall efficiency, the two scaled inefficient ports of Abidjan and Cotonou should adjust their scale of operations. Then, further investigations were conducted to detect correlations between various variables used in this study. The research found that the absence of any correlation for non-significant variables and negative correlation for the significant variables throughout time resulted from the fact that these variables were not fully utilized. Meaning that they were not efficiently used to boost the container throughput on a scale basis, the research also found that a pandemic or insecurity could easily impact seaports activities with the case of the Ebola outbreak which strucked the West African region from the year 2013 to 2016, or the terrorism threats which prevailed in the region around the year 2012. Thus, for ports to stand out in the present fiercely competitive environment, ports authorities ought to analyze their operational scale to identify whether or not the production size is fitting before further port capacity expansion.

This study presents a competitiveness analysis of five strategic container ports in West Africa using the DEA model Windows I-C method. This method takes into account the different changes in these ports efficiency and performance using a window length of 3 over the years 2005 to 2016. The model is used to provide a ranking of the efficient strategic ports in the region. Efficient ports promote trade growth by empowering a country's imports and exports. The ranking and competitiveness of a port are evaluated based on its efficiency compared to others in its group. From the one output and the seven input variables selected, the results reveal the port of Tema to be the most competitive in the West Africa with 95% production average efficiency score, then followed respectively by Lagos, Abidjan, Lomé and Cotonou port.

The container shipping, the important beneficiary and the major element of globalization, has remained a way of moving goods all over the world at an ever-increasing pace since not long ago. With China becoming the world's factory, the industry has known a sustained and rapid growth from year to year. Many among ship owners, bankers, and investors during this period of boom in the shipping industry, become very rich. The availability of cash, with the construction of more technologically advanced ships, with the expansion of ports and the introduction of new shipping services, the cargo capacity in terms of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of the world container fleet, had more than tripled between the years 2000-2009, reaching 12.5 million. But now, the well-known global financial and economic crisis of 2009 had almost overnight suppressed the growth of the container-ships market. In fact, for the first time in the history of the maritime industry, growth has stopped and there is even a steady decline in the rate of containers shipped around the world. In the first six months of the year of the crisis alone, the shipping industry declined by close to 16% causing huge losses.

The aim of this paper is to select the best location for the construction of a dry port in Niger which is a land locked country (LLC). Niger is located in the Sahel and has a land area of 1,267,000 square kilometers [1], with the closest port being port of Cotonou in Benin. The transport corridor from Niamey to Cotonou is approximately 1036 km long [2]. It is estimated that this corridor carries about 40 percent of Niger's overseas trade traffic [3]. In this work, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) model is used to determine the optimal location of the dry port, among three major cities: Niamey (capital city), Dosso and Gaya. From the application of this selection model, Dosso was selected as the best location for the location of the dry port, while Gaya and Niamey were placed second and third respectively. The results obtained in this work strongly confirm the decision of the government of Niger to construct a dry port in Dosso, a project that commenced in 2010 and is still in progress.

The present research paper focused on the phenomenon of innovation as a key solution for business success as it relates to corporate environmental responsibility (CER). The ultimate aim of CER is to prevent and even eliminate, if possible, the harmful impact of business performance on the environment. Every modern company should adhere to the obligations of CER since environmental pollution is a serious hazard that endangers future existence of humankind. For example, it is essential to implement strategies that can contribute to air and water protection. Ecological innovation emerged on the grounds of such urgent needs of environment. Eco-innovation strives to make a transition from business with harmful effects to one of the accountability. Therefore, the present study aimed to review relevant, reliable and up-to-date sources dealing with eco-based innovations in the context of CER. A qualitative research is selected so as to collect sufficient amount of detailed credible data on the issue of concern. The given paper relied on a secondary research encompassing literature review and relevant case studies and a survey as the primary research. Based on the outcomes, several innovations were identified and presented to the target audience.