ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the issues in developing a set of port performance indicators for bulk transport. It provides a review of the literature on measuring performance, and reveals the divergence between academic studies and the few practical applications. Since the 1990s studies have become more quantitative, using such traditional techniques as regression and Principal Components Analysis (PCA), but a new set of quantitative techniques gave economists additional tools to explore port performance and competition. An early paper by Lawrence et al. described the work of the Australian Bureau of Industry Economics and its efforts to assess the level of performance of Australian infrastructure, such as electricity, railways, telecommunication and ports. He outlines some of the difficulties in dealing with overall port performance indicators, arguing that the port is a complex entity, whereas a terminal or even berth provides a more direct indication of actual activity.
