Port activity and technical efficiency: determinants and external factors

Port efficiency and terminal productivity are two key aspects of current market development. Modern advancements in port technology have introduced several operational solutions, such as automation, to increase terminal productivity. While such solutions offer the possibility of achieving increased outputs (e.g. movements per hour), high fixed costs, managerial challenges, and different legislations are hurdles that slow their introduction down. Moreover, few studies have clarified the actual impact of different handling technologies and other external factors (e.g. port location) on overall terminal efficiency. In fact, several academic and industry studies have demonstrated that these varying conditions can impact terminals’ output in different ways. With this in mind, the current study discusses preliminary results on the impact of automation technology on port efficiency using a two-step approach (i.e. Data Envelopment Analysis and statistical regression) to understand whether automated terminals guarantee heightened efficiency. Our results show that membership of certain port ranges is a more important factor than heightened automation, though technological advances do represent a viable second option.