Seaports provide multiple services to ships, cargo and passengers. The size of the port and type of service they offer are two key elements when deciding whether competition is feasible and how to promote it or, conversely, regulation is needed. Analysing this requires a profound knowledge of the cost structure of the activity involved. This means not only knowing total costs for different volumes of aggregated traffic, but also the behaviour of costs when part of the bundle is produced, i.e. when the mix changes. The optimal organization of the industry can be studied by means of cost and production functions. This paper offers a review of the relatively scarce literature about econometric ports’ cost structure, and highlights the role of the multioutput approach as the correct one because it allows the calculation of key cost indicators (economies of scale, scope and so forth) to determine the optimal port industrial structure for a given forecast of demand (traffic mix and volume).


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Econometric estimation of scale and scope economies within the Port Sector: a review


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2007-06-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    Unknown





    From economies of density and network scale to multioutput economies of scale and scope: a synthesis

    Basso, L. / Jara-Diaz, S. / Association for European Transport | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006


    Economies of density, multiproduct scale and scope in the airline industry

    Jara-Diaz, S.R. / Cortes, C. / Morales, G. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2007