Jose Tongzon

The Transportation Sector of India's Economy: Dry Ports as Catalysts for Regional Development

Two East Asian specialists review the development of dry ports in India as part of a broader national program to eliminate transportation bottlenecks, improve transport efficiency, and spur the economic development of interior regions by lowering road and rail freight tariffs, and thus decreasing the costs of imports (and making exports more competitive). A key focus is on comparing the relative efficiency of public- versus private-sector operation of dry ports, and on examining the effects on dry port efficiency of current Indian Government policy. The authors test two hypotheses relating to the efficiency of port operations using information derived from their field study/interviews at 28 dry ports in Northwest India (reflecting three different types of ownership/operation combinations) as well as quantitative data measuring port efficiency.

Comparing the Economic Impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Several initiatives have emerged for regional economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States has led the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, and ASEAN countries have recently started to promote the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. This paper estimates the net economic impact of these initiatives by eliminating the overlapping portions of free trade agreement–related economic gains through the use of a dynamic computable general equilibrium model. The paper analyzes the economic and political feasibility of these two initiatives and assesses their economic impacts. Finally, the paper provides implications for economic integration in East Asia based on a quantitative assessment.

Measuring port efficiency using bootstrapped DEA: the case of Vietnamese ports

ABSTRACT Standard data envelopment analysis (DEA) tends to be sensitive to the number of variables of a chosen sample, and it is unable to account for their random nature. Standard DEA can exhibit statistical inconsistency, biased results, and an arguable inference process. Thus, in this study, an efficiency evaluation method is used to overcome these limitations, especially since no studies of port efficiency have addressed this issue. This study applies bootstrapped DEA to a sample of the 43 largest Vietnamese ports and compares the results with those from stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and standard DEA. The results show that while the efficiency scores obtained from the three methods provide useful and consistent measures of the ports’ efficiency, they differ significantly. Furthermore, while the efficiency scores produced by bootstrapped DEA are consistent, unbiased, and not sensitive to the sample size, standard DEA and SFA yield efficiency scores that are much larger than bootstrapped DEA. In addition, bootstrapped DEA provides the confidence intervals for efficiency scores and allows for hypothesis tests of port performance.

Estimation of Optimal Handling Capacity of a Container Port: An Economic Approach

Port planners have to make decisions on optimal berth capacity for container port development. The main purpose of this paper is twofold. One is to review the current practices adopted by selected major ports in Asia in estimating berth and port capacities in their planning decisions. The other is to suggest a new approach to estimate the optimal capacity of a berth/port from the perspective of a national economy and to show how the traditional approach can integrate economic factors. Findings suggest that port planners should look into incurring costs of not only the construction, but also the opportunity costs of ships and cargo when deciding to use port facilities to full capacity.

Assessing Port Service Quality by Process Component: The Case of Korean and Chinese Ports

Studies on port service quality are quite limited and so far no study has yet been done to develop a measurement of port service quality by port service process component from the perspective of the shipping lines. The objective of this study is to develop a measurement of port service quality by port service process component and to evaluate the service levels of competing container ports in Korea and China. Using literature review, confirmatory factor analysis and analytic hierarchy process method based on 82 respondents, the findings reveal that the Chinese ports enjoy a higher service level than the Korean ports due to their higher scores in timeliness and price acceptability, which are most critical factors in port service quality. The current empirical study is a meaningful experiment integrating port service quality factors and port service process and consequently, can present more detailed information about the strengths and weaknesses of each port and provide a more useful basis to improve their service competitiveness.

Liberalisation of logistics services: the case of ASEAN

No in-depth region-wide analysis has yet been undertaken to assess progress made since the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to liberalise their logistics services in line with their vision to establish an ASEAN Economic Community. In this light, this paper discusses the motivation behind their decision to liberalise their logistics sector, assesses the progress of implementation of their liberalisation commitments and identifies the underlying factors that have hindered or are likely to affect their ability to implement them. The ASEAN countries differ significantly in terms of the strength of their logistics industries and the adequacy of their institutional and regulatory/legal frameworks. Due to these significant differences, these countries are faced with major constraints. These constraints and possibilities for facilitating the liberalisation of their logistics services are examined. Possibilities include effective implementation of trade facilitation measures, liberalisation within sub-regional grouping and a staged framework of liberalisation.

Institutions, transport infrastructure governance, and planning: lessons from the corporatization of port authorities in East Asia

Substantial research posits that institutions do matter in port development, resulting in path-dependent reform process. However, issues remain unaddressed, notably on how and why institutions matter during such process under diversified developmental phases and geographical settings. This paper investigates, based on the experience of two major ports in East Asia, in what ways and to what extent political institutions have shaped the process of change, the main sources of path dependency, the conditions under which path disruption can occur, and how existing institutional legacies can contribute to differentiated outcomes. The focus is not only about institutional structure, but also the behavior and policies that institutions produce in such reforms. By doing so, it contributes to the progress and refinements of institutional theories, as well as theorizing the impacts of institutions in reforming the governance and planning systems of transport infrastructures.

The challenges of developing a competitive logistics industry in ASEAN countries

The objective of this paper is to assess the challenges facing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in their effort to develop a competitive logistics industry in light of an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. In particular, it tries to evaluate the extent to which the measures adopted to improve the competitiveness of their respective logistics industries have been implemented and identify the underlying factors affecting their implementation. The methodology used relies on questionnaire-based interviews with a sample of logistics firms and relevant government agencies in the ASEAN countries. Overall, the extent of implementation has been low and characterised by a significant perception gap between logistics firms and their respective governments. These findings imply the need for the ASEAN countries to further undertake specific actions targeting the underlying causes. Unless these factors are addressed, they are likely to hinder the achievement of a competitive logistics industry and thus the realisation of establishing a regionally integrated market. Addressing this issue is not only relevant to ASEAN but can also provide some valuable insights for other developing countries.

Port e-Transformation, customer satisfaction and competitiveness

ABSTRACT e-Transformation in container ports means port organization-wide innovative transformation encompassing internal and external value chains based on information and communication technology. There is a considerable theoretical literature on the impact of e-Transformation on business performance, but there is very little empirical study on its effectiveness in ports. The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate how e-Transformation in container port management can influence customer satisfaction and port competitiveness. The findings reveal that e-Transformation in container ports can affect customer satisfaction and port competitiveness through e-Workplace, customer relationship management and security, implying that container ports should make every effort to focus on e-transformation in these critical areas. Due to limited empirical studies in this area, the findings have provided an empirical support for the importance of e-Transformation in container terminal management and shed more light on how e-Transformation can affect customer satisfaction and port competitiveness.

The challenges of economic integration: the case of shipping in ASEAN countries

Abstract The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed to establish an ASEAN single-shipping market (ASSM) by 2015. This paper aims to assess the impediments in achieving this vision and how they can affect the pace of integration. These impediments include the differences in their national shipping capacity, national shipping policies and regulations, and in their quality of shipping-related infrastructure and institutions. Due to these differences, the economic implications are likely to vary and raise important conceptual and implementation issues. The ASEAN experience could contribute to the understanding of shipping market integration and provide some lessons for other countries.