Identifying of Effective Factors in Design of Port Tariff

The main objective of this paper is to identify the factors that influence the practical process of designing port tariffs. The analysis is based on data from 40 ports worldwide. At first, Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to identify the factors influencing the choice of tariff design model. Subsequently, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis is used to examine the relationship between the variables. The findings show that, the port demand, knowledge about pricing theories, the dynamics of port and shipping segments (including ship size and competition), pricing goals and costs associated with port services are factors that influence the design of infrastructure tariffs. Most ports use a combination of pricing approaches that include discriminatory pricing, cost based pricing and market-based pricing. Ports are aware of the fundamental pricing approach, but they know little about their use. Based on the results of the analysis, a strategy for port management in tariff design was established, at last research constraints and recommendations for future research are discussed.