Article
Port efficiency and trade flows
Growing international trade and increasing congestion focus attention on trade facilitation. Ocean ports are a central and necessary component in facilitating trade. Yet, there is only limited comprehensive information available on the efficiency of ports, much less evidence of the effect of port efficiency on trade. We develop and apply a straightforward approach to estimate port efficiency. The approach uses detailed data on U.S. imports and associated import costs, yielding estimates across ports, products, and time. These measures are incorporated into a gravity trade model where we estimate that improved port efficiency significantly increases trade volumes.