Testing port choice models using physical and monetary data: a comparative case study for the Spanish container trades

Abstract

Testing port choice models using physical and monetary data: a comparative case study for the Spanish container trades Abstract Transport costs are useful explanatory variables in port choice research. Nevertheless, the availability of such information usually poses a problem. Thus, the formulation of an alternative approach, to be used as a proxy of these variables, would be desirable. The objective of this study is to improve the analysis of container port choice using logit models by adopting physical non-monetary indicators based on maritime distance and ship size. The statistical tests of logit models on port choice using these new variables is compared with the result of using cost variables for the same dataset of choice positions. The statistical outcome is such that it allows us to present this approach as a contribution to the literature on port choice modeling.