Port performance from a policy perspective – A systematic review of the literature

Owing to their diverse functionality, seaports as entities produce a mix of private and public goods that have significant welfare implications for the regions they serve. In effect, performance in seaports can be viewed as multi-dimensional. When forming policy that affects multiple stakeholders it is therefore desirable to measure performance across all relevant dimensions, as they are likely to have differing effects on concerned stakeholders. The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic literature review of published studies on seaport performance measurement to identify, critically evaluate and integrate the various dimensions of seaport performance measurement. A review of the literature was carried out focusing on key questions in performance measurement system design outlining what to measure and how to measure it. Our study finds that measuring port performance has been expanding rapidly leading to significant advancement in the development of methods to create different measures of port performance. However, there has been less progress in advancing means to define what constitutes performance as a construct particularly when performance is perceived as multidimensional. In this review, five dimensions of seaport performance were identified. In addition, a formative construct of performance was proposed for the design of performance measurement systems to address policy concerns when performance is of a multidimensional nature.