Evaluating impacts of institutional reforms on port efficiency changes: Ownership, corporate structure, and total factor productivity changes of world container ports

Cheon, SangHyun; Dowall, David E.; Song, Dong-Wook

Abstract

This paper evaluates how port institutional reforms influenced efficiency gains between 1991 and 2004. We constructed a panel data for port ownership, corporate structure, and port inputs and outputs for 98 major world ports, and we implemented the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) model. The MPI provides efficiency measures for input combinations that allow for obtaining the outputs in the presence of institutional reforms, ownership changes, main agent problems, technological progress, efficient scale growth, and many other reasons for efficiency and the lack of it. The results illustrate that ownership restructuring contributed to total factor productivity gains. The restructuring induced optimized operation of container terminals, especially for large ports, as it allowed specialized private entities to concentrate on terminal operation and cargo handling services.

Citation

Cheon, S., Dowall, D. E., & Song, D.-W. (2010). Evaluating impacts of institutional reforms on port efficiency changes: Ownership, corporate structure, and total factor productivity changes of world container ports. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 46(4), 546-561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2009.04.001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jun 24, 2009
• Publication Date: 2010-07
• Deposit Date: Apr 10, 2014
• Journal: Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
• Print ISSN: 1366-5545
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 546-561
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2009.04.001
• Keywords: Port reform; Port ownership; Port corporate structure; Port efficiency; Total factor productivity changes; Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI)
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/6791