Dimensions of the Port Performance: A Review of Literature

Abstract

The port performance has frequently been studied in the academic literature, and the first studies on the subject are focused on financial or operational dimensions. However, today, port performance has become multi-dimensional due to the changing roles of the ports to its stakeholders, and the fact that local competition has been replaced by global competition through continuously developing routes, etc. Within this study, it is aimed to determine each dimension of the port performance concept which had been handled as a multi-dimensional process in recent years in literature. For this purpose, port performance literature is reviewed and frequency analysis of the related studies was made. As a result of the analysis, dimensional perspective was brought to the port performance concept and the indicators of each dimension used in empirical studies were gathered together. So, the concept of port performance had been divided into four basic dimensions which are operational, financial, sustainable, and logistics. Finally, dimensional gaps in port performance literature were revealed and some suggestions were given for further studies.