Maritime transport costs and port efficiency / by Ximena Clark, David Dollar, Alejandro Micco.
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| Online Access: |
Full Text (via Open Knowledge Repository) |
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| Corporate Authors: | , |
| Other Authors: | , |
| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[Washington, D.C.] :
World Bank,
[2002]
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| Series: | Policy research working papers (Online) ;
2781. |
| Subjects: |
| Abstract: | Transport costs have increased their relative importance as a barrier to trade. Distance, containerization, volume exported, and, most important, the level of seaport efficiency, are important determinants of transport costs. Port efficiency is not only associated with infrastructure, but also with the existence of organized crime and excessive regulation. Recent literature has emphasized the importance of transport costs and infrastructure in explaining trade, access to markets, and increases in per capita income. For most Latin American countries transport costs are a greater barrier to U.S. markets than import tariffs. Clark, Dollar, and Micco investigate the determinants of the costs of shipping to the United States using a large database (more than 300,000 observations a year) on shipments of products at the six-digit level of the Harmonized System of classification from different ports around the world. They find that distance and containerization matter. They find that the efficiency of ports is also important. Improving the efficiency of a port from the 25th to the 75th percentile reduces shipping costs by 12 percent. (On average, having bad ports is equivalent to being 60 percent farther away from markets.) Inefficient ports also increase handling costs, which are part of shipping costs. Finally, the authors try to explain variations in port efficiency. They find that the variations are linked to excessive regulation, the prevalence of organized crime, and the general condition of the country's infrastructure. This paper--a product of Macroeconomics and Growth, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the link between competitiveness and transport costs. The authors may be contacted at xclark@worldbank.org, ddollar@worldbank.org, or alejandromi@iadb.org. |
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| Item Description: | Title from title screen as viewed on June 3, 2002. "The World Bank Development Research Group, Macroeconomics and Growth"--Cover. "February 2002." |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. Also available in print. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 22-24). |
| Additional Physical Form available Note: | Also available in print. |