The effect of privately managed terminals on the technical efficiency of the Spanish port system

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The effect of privately managed terminals on the technical efficiency of the Spanish port system

Cano-Leiva, Jose / Cantos-Sanchez, Pedro / Sempere-Monerris, Jose J.

Highlights • Estimates of technical efficiency of Spanish ports with different methods are obtained. • Results of different methods are robust. • Privately managed terminals improve Spanish ports technical efficiency. • The efficiency effects depend on the type of port terminal specialization.

Abstract This paper analyzes the effects of privately managed terminals on the technical efficiency of Spanish ports for the period 2002–2018. Technical efficiency has been measured by both parametric and non-parametric methods. Port terminals are specialized infrastructures dedicated to container, solid and liquid bulk, non-containerized and passenger traffic. We show that the privately managed terminals improve Spanish ports technical efficiency regardless the approach followed. Besides, this increase in efficiency is the largest for solid bulk privately managed terminals followed by non-containerized general cargo, containers and liquid bulk terminals as compared to passenger ones. Also, large ports are more efficient independently of the approach. In addition, ports located in islands and those close to oil refineries are more efficient when using the non-parametric approaches. Finally, the reform introduced in 2003 had a significant negative impact on efficiency under the parametric approach.