Determinants of Efficiency at Major Brazilian Port Terminals

This paper reports on the use of different approaches for measuring the efficiency of major Brazilian port terminals. Two of the most important approaches, DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) and SFA (Stochastic Frontier Analysis), were performed on data collected from 25 terminals. The findings indicate that the majority of Brazilian terminals are running short on capacity due to the export boom that has occurred over the past few years and due to the lack of investment in capacity expansion. Furthermore, efficiency measurements derived from a reduced model with only one input and one output were explained based on variables such as type of cargo handled (container or bulk), connectivity of the terminal to railroads, and control (state or private) of the terminal. Implications and directions for future research are explored.