IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/idb/brikps/4702.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Benchmarking Container Port Technical Efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean

Author

Listed:
  • Morales Sarriera, Javier
  • Serebrisky, Tomás
  • Araya, Gonzalo
  • Briceño-Garmendia, Cecilia
  • Schwartz, Jordan

Abstract

We developed a technical efficiency analysis of container ports in Latin America and the Caribbean using an input-oriented stochastic frontier model. We employed a 10-year panel with data on container throughput, port terminal area, berth length, and number of available cranes in 63 ports. The model has three innovations with respect to the available literature: (i) we treated ship-to-shore gantry cranes and mobile cranes separately, in order to account for the higher productivity of the former; (ii) we introduced a binary variable for ports using ships¿ cranes, treated as an additional source of port productivity; and (iii) we introduced a binary variable for ports operating as transshipment hubs. Their associated parameters are highly significant in the production function. The results show an improvement in the average technical efficiency of ports in the Latin American and Caribbean region from 36% to 50% between 1999 and 2009; the best performing port in 2009 achieved a technical efficiency of 94%with respect to the frontier. The paper also studies possible determinants of port technical efficiency, such as ownership, corruption, transshipment, income per capita, and location. The results revealed positive and significant associations between technical efficiency and both transshipment activities and lower corruption levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Morales Sarriera, Javier & Serebrisky, Tomás & Araya, Gonzalo & Briceño-Garmendia, Cecilia & Schwartz, Jordan, 2013. "Benchmarking Container Port Technical Efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4702, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:4702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Benchmarking-Container-Port-Technical-Efficiency-in-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. María Manuela González & Lourdes Trujillo, 2009. "Efficiency Measurement in the Port Industry: A Survey of the Empirical Evidence," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 43(2), pages 157-192, May.
    4. Pablo Coto-Millan & Jose Banos-Pino & Ana Rodriguez-Alvarez, 2000. "Economic efficiency in Spanish ports: some empirical evidence," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 169-174, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    7. 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.
    8. Ricardo J Sánchez & Jan Hoffmann & Alejandro Micco & Georgina V Pizzolitto & Martín Sgut & Gordon Wilmsmeier, 2003. "Port Efficiency and International Trade: Port Efficiency as a Determinant of Maritime Transport Costs," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 5(2), pages 199-218, June.
    9. Trujillo, Lourdes & González, María Manuela & Jiménez, Juan Luis, 2013. "An overview on the reform process of African ports," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 12-22.
    10. Banker, Rajiv D. & Gadh, Vandana M. & Gorr, Wilpen L., 1993. "A Monte Carlo comparison of two production frontier estimation methods: Corrected ordinary least squares and data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 332-343, June.
    11. 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.
    12. World Bank, 2013. "World Development Indicators 2013," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13191.
    13. 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.
    14. George E. Battese, 1997. "A Note On The Estimation Of Cobb‐Douglas Production Functions When Some Explanatory Variables Have Zero Values," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1‐3), pages 250-252, January.
    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. Wilmsmeier, Gordon & Monios, Jason, 2016. "Institutional structure and agency in the governance of spatial diversification of port system evolution in Latin America," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 294-307.
    2. repec:wbk:wboper:22034 is not listed on IDEAS

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. López-Bermúdez, Beatriz & Freire-Seoane, María Jesús & Nieves-Martínez, Diego José, 2019. "Port efficiency in Argentina from 2012 to 2017: An ally for sustained economic growth," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Sarriera, Javier Morales & Araya, Gonzalo & Serebrisky, Tomas & Briceno-Garmendia, Cecilia & Schwartz, Jordan, 2013. "Benchmarking container port technical efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean : a stochastic frontier analysis," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6680, The World Bank.
    5. Efecan, Volkan & Temiz, İzzettin, 2023. "Assessing the technical efficiency of container ports based on a non-monotonic inefficiency effects model," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. 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.
    7. López-Bermúdez, Beatriz & Freire-Seoane, María Jesús & González-Laxe, Fernando, 2019. "Efficiency and productivity of container terminals in Brazilian ports (2008–2017)," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 82-91.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Yan, Jia & Sun, Xinyu & Liu, John J., 2009. "Assessing container operator efficiency with heterogeneous and time-varying production frontiers," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 172-185, January.
    11. Claudio Quintano & Paolo Mazzocchi & Antonella Rocca, 2020. "A competitive analysis of EU ports by fixing spatial and economic dimensions," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    12. 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.
    13. Quintano, Claudio & Mazzocchi, Paolo & Rocca, Antonella, 2021. "Evaluation of the eco-efficiency of territorial districts with seaport economic activities," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. Pablo Coto-Millán & Pedro Casares-Hontañón & Rubén Sainz González & Ingrid Mateo Mantecón & Manuel Agüeros & Alfonso Badiola & Juan Castanedo & Miguel Ángel Pesquera, 2016. "Regulation, competition, crisis and technical efficiency of companies operating in Spanish ports (2002–2011)," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 18(3), pages 282-294, September.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Hong-Oanh Nguyen & Hong-Son Nghiem & Young-Tae Chang, 2018. "A regional perspective of port performance using metafrontier analysis: the case study of Vietnamese ports," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 20(1), pages 112-130, March.
    20. Merkel, Axel & Holmgren, Johan, 2017. "Dredging the depths of knowledge: Efficiency analysis in the maritime port sector," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 63-74.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    technical efficiency; ports; Latin America; benchmarking; stochastic frontier analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

    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:idb:brikps:4702. 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: Felipe Herrera Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iadbbus.html .

    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.