Competitiveness of Container Ports in the Global Maritime Industry

In general, massive investments are required to construct container ports with terminals,docks, storage areas, and hinterlands. Nevertheless, individual container ports have difficulty obtaining sufficient container cargo volume to justify the massive investments. Massive investments are required to construct container ports. However, without adequate competitiveness, it is not easy to obtain sufficient container cargo volume to justify the investments in individual container ports. The topic of competitiveness is broadly covered in the literature on the maritime industry. This study aims to analyze the competitiveness of container ports using a cross-country analysis with theoretical foundations. Specifically, tangible and intangible resources are discussed as determinants of container port competitiveness using a resource-based view and institutional theory. This study analyzes the relationships among six variables: container port competitiveness, traffic volume, quality of infrastructure, linear shipping connectivity, operating efficiency, and institutional influence. This study retrieved country-level data on different indicators and countries from several trade and maritime databases.