IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/marpmg/v34y2007i3p203-223.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Econometric estimation of scale and scope economies within the Port Sector: a review

Author

Listed:
  • Beatriz Tovar
  • Sergio Jara-Díaz
  • Lourdes Trujillo

Abstract

Seaports provide multiple services to ships, cargo and passengers. The size of the port and type of service they offer are two key elements when deciding whether competition is feasible and how to promote it or, conversely, regulation is needed. Analysing this requires a profound knowledge of the cost structure of the activity involved. This means not only knowing total costs for different volumes of aggregated traffic, but also the behaviour of costs when part of the bundle is produced, i.e. when the mix changes. The optimal organization of the industry can be studied by means of cost and production functions. This paper offers a review of the relatively scarce literature about econometric ports’ cost structure, and highlights the role of the multioutput approach as the correct one because it allows the calculation of key cost indicators (economies of scale, scope and so forth) to determine the optimal port industrial structure for a given forecast of demand (traffic mix and volume).

Suggested Citation

  • Beatriz Tovar & Sergio Jara-Díaz & Lourdes Trujillo, 2007. "Econometric estimation of scale and scope economies within the Port Sector: a review," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 203-223, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:marpmg:v:34:y:2007:i:3:p:203-223
    DOI: 10.1080/03088830701342932
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03088830701342932
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/03088830701342932?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baumol, William J, 1982. "Contestable Markets: An Uprising in the Theory of Industry Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Estache, Antonio & Gonzalez, Marianela & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2002. "Efficiency Gains from Port Reform and the Potential for Yardstick Competition: Lessons from Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 545-560, April.
    3. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    4. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Tretheway, Michael W, 1980. "Flexible Cost Functions for Multiproduct Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(3), pages 477-481, August.
    5. John C. Panzar & Robert D. Willig, 1977. "Economies of Scale in Multi-Output Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 91(3), pages 481-493.
    6. Meeusen, Wim & van den Broeck, Julien, 1977. "Efficiency Estimation from Cobb-Douglas Production Functions with Composed Error," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 18(2), pages 435-444, June.
    7. Roller, Lars-Hendrik, 1990. "Proper Quadratic Cost Functions with an Application to the Bell System," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 202-210, May.
    8. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel (ed.), 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780444850133.
    9. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel, 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications (I): The Theory of Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 1, number fuss1978.
    10. Cullinane, Kevin & Wang, Teng-Fei & Song, Dong-Wook & Ji, Ping, 2006. "The technical efficiency of container ports: Comparing data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 354-374, May.
    11. Sergio Jara-Díaz & Beatriz Tovar De La Fé & Lourdes Trujillo, 2005. "Multioutput analysis of cargo handling firms: An application to a Spanish port," Transportation, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 275-291, May.
    12. Kevin Cullinane & Dong-Wook Song & Tengfei Wang, 2005. "The Application of Mathematical Programming Approaches to Estimating Container Port Production Efficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 73-92, September.
    13. Kevin Cullinane & Dong-Wook Song, 2003. "A stochastic frontier model of the productive efficiency of Korean container terminals," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 251-267.
    14. Turner, Hugh & Windle, Robert & Dresner, Martin, 2004. "North American containerport productivity: 1984-1997," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 339-356, July.
    15. Estache, Antonio & de la Fe, Beatriz Tovar & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2004. "Sources of efficiency gains in port reform: a DEA decomposition of a Malmquist TFP index for Mexico," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 221-230, December.
    16. Theo Notteboom & Chris Coeck & Julien Van Den Broeck, 2000. "Measuring and Explaining the Relative Efficiency of Container Terminals by Means of Bayesian Stochastic Frontier Models," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 2(2), pages 83-106, June.
    17. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    18. Teng-Fei Wang & Kevin Cullinane & Dong-Wook Song, 2005. "Container Port Production and Economic Efficiency," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-50597-1, December.
    19. Kim, Moshe & Sachish, Arie, 1986. "The Structure of Production, Technical Change and Productivity in a Port," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 209-223, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mehdi Farsi & Aurelio Fetz & Massimo Filippini, 2007. "Economies of Scale and Scope in the Swiss Multi-Utilities Sector," CEPE Working paper series 07-59, CEPE Center for Energy Policy and Economics, ETH Zurich.
    2. Tovar, Beatriz & Wall, Alan, 2014. "The impact of demand uncertainty on port infrastructure costs: Useful information for regulators?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 176-183.
    3. Felix L. Friedt, 2021. "Natural disasters, aggregate trade resilience, and local disruptions: Evidence from Hurricane Katrina," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1081-1120, November.
    4. Fetz, Aurelio & Filippini, Massimo, 2010. "Economies of vertical integration in the Swiss electricity sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1325-1330, November.
    5. Zheng, Shiyuan & Luo, Meifeng, 2021. "Competition or cooperation? Ports’ strategies and welfare analysis facing shipping alliances," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    6. Martínez-Moya, Julián & Mestre-Alcover, Amparo & Sala-Garrido, Ramón & Furió-Pruñonosa, Salvador, 2024. "Are transhipment ports more efficient in the Mediterranean Sea? Analysing the role of time at ports using DEA metafrontier approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gonzalez, M. & Trujillo, L., 2007. "Efficiency measurement in the port industry: a survey of the empirical evidence," Working Papers 07/08, Department of Economics, City University London.
    2. Serebrisky, Tomás & Sarriera, Javier Morales & Suárez-Alemán, Ancor & Araya, Gonzalo & Briceño-Garmendía, Cecilia & Schwartz, Jordan, 2016. "Exploring the drivers of port efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 31-45.
    3. Cullinane, Kevin & Song, Dong-Wook, 2006. "Estimating the Relative Efficiency of European Container Ports: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 85-115, January.
    4. Suárez-Alemán, Ancor & Morales Sarriera, Javier & Serebrisky, Tomás & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2016. "When it comes to container port efficiency, are all developing regions equal?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 56-77.
    5. Gong, Stephen X.H. & Cullinane, Kevin & Firth, Michael, 2012. "The impact of airport and seaport privatization on efficiency and performance: A review of the international evidence and implications for developing countries," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 37-47.
    6. Shaher Z. Zahran & Jobair Bin Alam & Abdulrahem H. Al-Zahrani & Yiannis Smirlis & Stratos Papadimitriou & Vangelis Tsioumas, 2020. "Analysis of port efficiency using imprecise and incomplete data," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 219-246, March.
    7. Güner, Samet, 2015. "Investigating infrastructure, superstructure, operating and financial efficiency in the management of Turkish seaports using data envelopment analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 36-48.
    8. Evelin Krmac & Mozhgan Mansouri Kaleibar, 2023. "A comprehensive review of data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology in port efficiency evaluation," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(4), pages 817-881, December.
    9. Pérez, Ivone & González, María Manuela & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2020. "Do specialisation and port size affect port efficiency? Evidence from cargo handling service in Spanish ports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 234-249.
    10. Cavaignac, Laurent & Petiot, Romain, 2017. "A quarter century of Data Envelopment Analysis applied to the transport sector: A bibliometric analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 84-96.
    11. Shui-Mu Ju & Nan Liu, 2015. "Efficiency and its influencing factors in port enterprises: empirical evidence from Chinese port-listed companies," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 571-590, August.
    12. Tovar, Beatriz & Wall, Alan, 2015. "Can ports increase traffic while reducing inputs? Technical efficiency of Spanish Port Authorities using a directional distance function approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 128-140.
    13. Kammoun Rabeb, 2018. "The Technical Efficiency of Tunisian Ports: Comparing Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Frontier Analysis Scores," Logistics, Supply Chain, Sustainability and Global Challenges, Sciendo, vol. 9(2), pages 73-84, October.
    14. Nicole Adler & Georg Hirte & Shravana Kumar & Hans-Martin Niemeier, 2022. "The impact of specialization, ownership, competition and regulation on efficiency: a case study of Indian seaports," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 24(3), pages 507-536, September.
    15. Pierre CARIOU & Gabriel FIGUEIREDO DE OLIVEIRA, 2015. "Les Déterminants De L'Efficience Portuaire : Une Analyse Des Ports À Conteneurs Méditerranéens," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 41, pages 83-99.
    16. Yip, Tsz Leung & Sun, Xin Yu & Liu, John J., 2011. "Group and individual heterogeneity in a stochastic frontier model: Container terminal operators," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 213(3), pages 517-525, September.
    17. Rabeb KAMMOUN & Souhir ABBES, 2020. "The technical efficiency of Tunisian ports: Comparing data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis scores," Romanian Journal of Economics, Institute of National Economy, vol. 51(2(60)), pages 83-102, December.
    18. Pérez, Ivone & Trujillo, Lourdes & González, María Manuela, 2016. "Efficiency determinants of container terminals in Latin American and the Caribbean," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-14.
    19. Richard Nehring & Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo & David Banker, 2005. "Off-farm labour and the structure of US agriculture: the case of corn/soybean farms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6), pages 633-649.
    20. Dairo Estrada & Poldy Osorio, 2004. "Effects of Financial Capital on Colombian Banking Efficiency," Revista ESPE - Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, vol. 22(47), pages 162-201, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:marpmg:v:34:y:2007:i:3:p:203-223. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TMPM20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.