Measuring container terminal efficiency of west African ports using a stochastic frontier approach: The case of the ports of Tema, Lome and Abidjan.

Abstract

This study seeks to measure the technical efficiency of west African container terminals by incorporating port governance structure into a stochastic frontier function. The study uses the annual container throughput (dependent) as the output variable whiles quay length, number of berths, number of cranes, number of straddle carriers, number of ship to shore cranes, number of gantry cranes, quay water draught, number of fork lifts, number of empty handlers, size of terminal area was used as the input variables. The gross domestic product(GDP), international trade levels(IT) and the port liner shipping index(PLSCI) were introduced as control variable in the model whiles a dummy component (the level of private participation in ports management) was incorporated to measure the effect of private ownership and management of port and terminal infrastructure. Three west African ports are chosen based on three factors: the proximity of the chosen ports to one another along the west African coast, their role as transit ports serving landlocked countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and the comparable infrastructure that they possess.