Port choice determinants: a revealed preference analysis of colombian public ports

Abstract

Identifying the most influential attributes considered by exporters and importers when choosing a port is crucial for logistics policy formulation. In this paper, the port choice process is modelled using revealed preference data obtained from the official records of imports and exports in Colombia. Results show that the cost of port access, frequency of maritime lines, maritime freight rates, maritime travel time, origin or destination of the cargo and the type of cargo, play an important role in the port selection process. The calculated elasticities indicate that exporters and importers are highly sensitive to the access cost of the port. Policies and strategies aimed to improve the efficiency of a port’s operation and their level of service, such as increasing the frequencies of lines or decreasing maritime freights and transit times, could have an important impact on demand.