Does Port Competitiveness Effect Port Users’ Competitiveness? Evidence from a Major Gateway Port

This study investigates association between port competitiveness and port users’ competitiveness through a case study of the Chittagong Port of Bangladesh. Existing maritime literature is focused on major ports of Europe, East Asia and North America; but many secondary ports of the mainline maritime network, which play a crucial role in their countries, are overlooked. Chittagong Port is such a port having an enormous impact on the economy of Bangladesh. The competitiveness of this port to its users is assessed based on five factors: port connectivity, facilities and efficiency, service quality, policy and regulations and green port management practices. Then, we examine the influence of these port competitiveness factors on the port users’ competitiveness by means of moderated hierarchical regression. We found that port connectivity and green port management are key drivers of port users’ competitiveness. Furthermore, a positive effect of port service quality on port users’ competitiveness is evident when moderated by value-added services. We also found that port users with high frequency of port use find it less competitive compared to the less frequent users.