A Critical Review of Port Pricing Literature: What Role for Academic Research?

Abstract

Few topics in the area of port economics have attracted so much attention from the side of the academic community as port pricing. The impact of such literature has been quite tangible in terms of policy development and the adoption of cost-based charging practices by many ports. Nonetheless as the port sector changes, new areas of research emerge and the academic community needs to look beyond the traditional theories to provide research that matters.This manuscript provides a review of the existing literature on port pricing with a specific focus on the literature of the last decade. In the paper the author carried out a systematic analysis of the main maritime and port economics journals and highlighted the current literature gaps and the areas that can benefit from academic attentions. Among the most interesting ones there are charging practices aiming at reducing externalities, the development of all inclusive port charges and the application of revenue management for port infrastructure utilization.