Port Efficiency and the Financial Performance of Greek Public Ports Before and During the Economic Crisis

This paper investigates the impact of several financial ratios on the efficiency of ten Greek public ports using the ordinal logistic regression method. The selection of the financial ratios was carried out using the indices related to the three efficiency zones. The results indicate that there are financial ratios that positively affect and others that negatively affect port efficiency. In general, our main findings support the notion that the middle efficiency zone was the most influential of all during the economic crisis. This was confirmed by the ANOVA robustness test. The DEA approach suggests that the ports as a whole were inefficient during the three periods—pre-crisis, in-crisis, and across all sample data periods under investigation. Investment in the ports has been held back during the economic crisis; however, the troika (i.e., the International Monetary Fund, European Commission, and European Central Bank) helped the Greek government to accelerate their economic development during this time. Our results have significant implications for the government. It should, for instance, decide whether to privatise the ten ports partially or fully.