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Title: The determinants of economic efficiency and market power of the Spanish port system

Authors: Jose Cano-Leiva; Pedro Cantos-Sanchez; Jose J. Sempere-Monerris

Addresses: Department of Economic Analysis and ERI-CES, University of Valencia, Campus dels Tarongers, E-46022 Valencia, Spain ' Department of Economic Analysis and ERI-CES, University of Valencia, Campus dels Tarongers, E-46022 Valencia, Spain ' Department of Economic Analysis and ERI-CES, University of Valencia, Spain; CORE/LIDAM, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Abstract: This paper estimates the economic efficiency of Spanish ports for the period 2002-2019. In a second stage, the main determinants of economic efficiency are analysed including the type of terminal management (public or private) and the traffic to which the terminal is specialised. Finally, market power is measured by applying the Boone index in two different geographical markets: the north and the south and east markets and six product markets for each of them. We show that the Spanish port system has improved efficiency and that private management of terminals has a positive effect on economic efficiency. Besides, larger ports and those with access to complementary assets (rail access and oil refinery) obtain better efficiency indexes. Regarding market power, the most competitive product market is containers in transshipment in the south and east geographical market. Also, the latter geographical market is more competitive than the north market.

Keywords: economic efficiency; market power; stochastic frontier approach; port terminals.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2024.144018

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2024 Vol.19 No.4, pp.555 - 582

Received: 02 Feb 2023
Accepted: 04 Jul 2023
Published online: 21 Jan 2025 *