Download or read book Technical Efficiency Gains from Port Reform written by Antonio Estache and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors show how relatively standard methodologies can help to measure the efficiency gains from reforming the organization of port infrastructure, how those measures can be used to promote competition between ports, and how competition can be built into an incentive-driven regulatory regime. As illustration, they use a case study of port reform in mexico in 1993, the first efficiency analysis of port restructuring in a developing country. Their analysis, which covers 1996-99 and relies on a stochastic production frontier, shows that overall, Mexico has achieved annual efficiency gains of 6-8 percent in the use of port infrastructure since assigning its management to independent, decentralized operators. Changes in relative performance ratings are revealing. They identify consistent sets of leaders and laggards, including some that would not have been identified by partial productivity indicators commonly used in the sector. The authors' main conclusions: 1) Reforms have significantly improved average port performance. 2) The analytically sound performance rankings allowed by the port-specific efficiency measures can help to promote yardstick competition in the sector. These rankings are superior to those that would emerge from use of partial productivity indicators. They account for the joint effects of all inputs on outputs--which is crucial, because it avoids the risk of inconsistent rankings based on different partial indicators, arbitrarily chosen. Developing the database method to measure efficiency in countries with no strong tradition of database development is an enormous task--especially in transport sectors, where the tradition of generating databases useful to policymakers is in its infancy. The most immediate effect of this exercise was to reveal the poverty of the database in the Mexican port sector and the need for regulators to invest in its development.
Download or read book Technical Efficiency Gains from Port Reform written by Antonio Estache and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relatively standard methodologies can help to measure the efficiency gains from reforming the organization of port infrastructure, and these measures can be used to promote competition between ports. But building the database needed to measure efficiency is a major undertaking for developing countries unaccustomed to such tasks.Estache, Gonzalez, and Trujillo show how relatively standard methodologies can help to measure the efficiency gains from reforming the organization of port infrastructure, how those measures can be used to promote competition between ports, and how competition can be built into an incentive-driven regulatory regime.As illustration, they use a case study of port reform in Mexico in 1993, the first efficiency analysis of port restructuring in a developing country. Their analysis, which covers 1996-99 and relies on a stochastic production frontier, shows that overall, Mexico has achieved annual efficiency gains of 6-8 percent in the use of port infrastructure since assigning its management to independent. decentralized operators. Changes in relative performance ratings are revealing. They identify consistent sets of leaders and laggards, including some that would not have been identified by partial productivity indicators commonly used in the sector. The authors' main conclusions:ʼn Reforms have significantly improved average port performance.ʼn The analytically sound performance rankings allowed by the port-specific efficiency measures can help to promote yardstick competition in the sector. These rankings are superior to those that would emerge from use of partial productivity indicators. They account for the joint effects of all inputs on outputs - which is crucial, because it avoids the risk of inconsistent rankings based on different partial indicators, arbitrarily chosen.Developing the database needed to measure efficiency in countries with no strong tradition of database development is an enormous task - especially in transport sectors, where the tradition of generating databases useful to policymakers is in its infancy. The most immediate effect of this exercise was to reveal the poverty of the database in the Mexican port sector and the need for regulators to invest in its development.This paper - a product of Governance, Regulation, and Finance Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to increase the understanding of infrastructure regulation.
Download or read book Reforms and Infastructure Efficiency in Spain s Container Ports written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Handbook of International Trade and Transportation written by Bruce A. Blonigen and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2018-01-26 with total page 719 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: International trade has grown rapidly over the past half century, accommodated by the transportation industry through concomitant growth and technological change. But while the connection between transport and trade flows is clear, the academic literature often looks at these two issues separately. This Handbook is unique in pulling together the key insights of each field while highlighting what we know about their intersection and ideas for future research in this relatively unexamined but growing area of study.
Download or read book International Maritime Transport Costs written by Gordon Wilmsmeier and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on in-depth empirical research, this book develops our understanding of maritime transport costs, the maritime industry and the competitiveness of regions in a global market environment through a geographical lens. Further, the book uses a unique set of data that gives an extensive insight into Latin American international maritime transport costs and its determinants. This is a clear call for policy makers and port authorities to strengthen transnational cooperation in order to improve the development of the whole system of maritime transport, focusing on the causes that put regions at risk of becoming peripheral and uncompetitive.
Download or read book Handbook of Terminal Planning written by Jürgen W. Böse and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-09-14 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seaport Container Terminals (SCT) operate as central nodes in worldwide hub-and-spoke networks, and link ocean-going vessels with smaller feeder vessels, as well as with inbound and outbound hinterland transportation systems using road, rail, or inland waterways. The volume of transcontinental container flows has gained enormously over the last five decades frequently leading to double-digit annual growth rates for the SCT. The 2nd edition of the Handbook of Terminal Planning also deals with problems being induced by questions of terminal development on a long-term basis (strategic level). Facing present and upcoming challenges for SCT operation—such as more and more mega vessels, extremely high hinterland peaks, higher environmental standards, less public acceptance and the stronger competition between terminals serving the same hinterland—the focus of the book is on successful approaches and solutions primarily addressing the planning of terminal structures. Nevertheless, operational aspects are considered, as well as how they effectively contribute to problem solving on the strategic level.
Download or read book Competitiveness of South Asia s Container Ports written by Matías Herrera Dappe and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2016-06-28 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Asia’s trade almost doubled in the past decade, but the share of trade in GDP is still smaller (47 percent) than in East Asia (55 percent), and South Asia’s economic competitiveness continues to lag that of other regions. Part of the problem is the region’s container ports. As a result of inefficiencies, the average cost of exporting or importing a container in the region is more than twice what it is in East Asia. Better port logistics could help increase trade, diversify exports, attract more foreign direct investment, and spur economic growth. As container traffic continues to grow and physical expansion is constrained by the limited supply of available land at most ports, the best way to improve port performance is by increasing productivity. To identify strategies for doing so, this report examines the performance of the 14 largest container ports in the region based on two sets of criteria: operational performance and economic performance. To measure operational performance, the report benchmarks total time at port, waiting time at port, and idle time as a share of total time at berth. To measure economic performance, it benchmarks productivity and efficiency using two useful techniques: Malmquist total factor productivity decomposition and data envelopment analysis. The report identifies key drivers of port performance and examines how differences in performance across ports are related to those drivers. This analysis is based on an original dataset on private sector participation, governance, and competition in South Asia’s container port sector. To highlight the potential gains from improving performance of container ports, the report uses econometric techniques to isolate the impact of efficiency improvements on maritime transport costs and trade. The results suggest that the best strategy for improving port performance in the region is a three-pronged approach that (a) encourages private sector participation through a well-developed enabling environment, including further adoption of the “landlord†? port model; (b) strengthens the governance of port authorities’ boards; and (c) promotes competition between and within ports, in part through transparent and competitive concession bidding.
Download or read book Dynamic Shipping and Port Development in the Globalized Economy written by Paul Yae-Woo Lee and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This two volume book presents an in-depth analysis of many of the most important issues facing today's shipping and port sectors. Volume 1 of Dynamic Shipping and Port Development in the Globalized Economy focuses on the application of theory to practice in Maritime Logistics.
Download or read book Reforming Infrastructure written by Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.
Download or read book Regulatory Economics and Quantitative Methods written by Omar O. Chisari and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2007-03-27 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regulatory Economics and Quantitative Methods comprises original contributions by leading researchers working on issues relating to regulation in Latin America. They focus on regulation in infrastructure industries and attempt to show how quantitative analysis can contribute to more effective regulation. In particular, they discuss central issues relating to the measures used for benchmarking natural monopolies, incentives and contractual arrangements used in the regulatory environment and the impact of regulation and regulatory processes.
Download or read book A Multioutput Cost Function for Port Terminals written by Lourdes Trujillo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cargo handling in ports is a multioutput activity, as freight can arrive in many forms such as containers, bulk, rolling stock, or noncontainerized general cargo. In this paper Tovar, Jara-Díaz, and Trujillo analyze the operation of port terminals through the estimation of a multioutput cost model that uses monthly data on three firms located at the Las Palmas port in Spain. This permits the calculation of product-specific marginal costs, economies of scale (general and by firm), and economies of scope, which are key tools to help the regulators in their task. This paper--a product of the Infrastructure Vice Presidency--is part of a larger effort in the vice presidency to promote analytical work on the economic analysis of the sector.
Download or read book Data Envelopment Analysis and Effective Performance Assessment written by Lotfi, Farhad Hossein Zadeh and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For any organization, analysis of performance and effectiveness through available data allows for informed decision making. Data envelopment analysis, or DEA, is a popular, effective method that can be used to measure productive efficiency in operations management assessment. Data Envelopment Analysis and Effective Performance Assessment addresses the myriad of practical uses and innovative developments of DEA. Emphasizing the importance of analyzing productivity by measuring inputs, goals, economic growth, and performance, this book covers a wide breadth of innovative knowledge. This book is essential reading for managers, business professionals, students of business and ICT, and computer engineers.
Download or read book Labor Issues in Infrastructure Reform written by Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fears of job loss and changes in employment status have often led workers and unions to oppose privatization and to take actions that delay or block reforms. Many developing country governments have been reluctant to undertake reforms because of labor opposition and the political costs involved. Such difficulties are often compounded by concerns about the social impact of reforms, particularly in countries where social safety nets and labor markets are lacking. The objective of the Toolkit, which includes a CD-ROM, is to provide practical tools and information to help policy makers and practitioners deal with these sensitive issues. The Toolkit helps governments identify and select appropriate strategies and approaches, offers guidelines for design and implementation based on best practice and actual experience, and indicates the factors influencing the choice of strategy and options. The Toolkit is illustrated with examples, checklists, and templates that walk decision makers through best practice methodologies.
Download or read book Reforms and Infrastructure Efficiency in Spain s Container Ports written by María Manuela González Serrano and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Serrano and Trujillo quantify the evolution of technical efficiency in port infrastructure service provision in the major Spanish port authorities involved in container traffic. They also analyze the extent to which port reforms that took place in the 1990s had an impact on the efficiency of the Spanish container ports. Because of the multi-output nature of port activities, the authors have estimated a distance function, which is a novel methodology in the study of the port industry. Their results show that the reforms resulted in significant improvements in technological change, but that technical efficiency has in fact changed little on average. But there is a significant movement of the efficiency within ports over time as a result of these reforms. This paper--a product of the Office of the Vice President, Infrastructure Network--is part of a larger effort in the network to document the impact of regulatory reform.
Download or read book Africa Transport and the Millennium Development Goals written by Raj Bardouille and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2009-10-02 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transport is an essential service that must contribute to national development objectives in health, education, agriculture and other sectors in guiding sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty. Developing policies aimed at providing safe, reliable and affordable transport infrastructure and services can and will make a substantial and sustainable contribution to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, improving health care and reducing HIV/AIDS. Although transport is identified as a priority in poverty reduction strategies, it has not generally been adequately addressed. Global responses tend to focus on rural transport infrastructure—principally roads—with little attention given to sub-sectors such as rivers, lakes, and railroads; and important geographical and econological differences are ignored. The needs of the urban poor have been weakly addressed, as have the access and mobility needs of women, the disabled and other disadvantaged groups, while strategies for adapting transport to agricultural production/distribution or social services (e.g. health and education) have not been adequately developed. A systematic approach to the development of sound, comprehensive transport sector programs that provide clear guidance on what is to be done is much needed. This volume—the product of an expert workshop held at Cornell University’s Institute for African Development in May, 2007—provides accounts of an array of African operational spaces in which transport is relevant to the Millennium Development Goals. It addresses many heretofore ignored dimesions of transport—mobility issues of the urban poor, of women and children, and issues of access to employment, education and health services. It provides an alignment of transport with the MDGs in what proves to be fertile ground for research with important messages for policy makers and consequences for policy.
Download or read book Port Management written by H. Haralambides and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-07-21 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Port Management brings together a collection of seminal papers from Palgrave’s journal Maritime Economics and Logistics. It is a dynamic volume, containing contributions from leading authors with different disciplinary backgrounds, representing a vast regional diversity. The volume provides authoritative and timely investigations into key topics in port economics, including research on: global supply chains, port networks, choice modelling, port infrastructure, competition, port pricing, efficiency in European seaports, and an analysis of Chinese container ports. It is essential reading for professionals, scholars, and researchers interested in port economics.
Download or read book Performance Measurement and Regulation of Network Utilities written by Tim Coelli and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the important role that economic performance measurement is playing in the regulation of network utilities in many countries today. The contributors to the book - researchers from academia, regulatory agencies and consulting firms - address the use of efficiency measures in price regulation and in assessing the effects of past regulatory reforms. Industries examined include electricity supply, water supply, telecommunications and airlines, across a range of countries including the USA, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
