Academic organization conducts port research

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia: A Dalhousie University-based researcher is trying establish just how effectively ports perform for the people who rely on their services.

Along with being a professor at Dalhousie, Mary Brooks is founder and chair of the Port Performance Research Network (PPRN), which bills itself as “an informal network of maritime economists interested in issues of port policy.” Other members are from universities around the world including the University of Antwerp, University of the Aegean, University of Brussels, and Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Currently, as part of her studies with the PPRN, Brooks is working with the American Association of Port Authorities on an assessment of port customer service delivery in North American container ports, trying to evaluate their effectiveness in delivering services.

The study is being conducted through an online questionnaire that should take between seven and 15 minutes to complete, and promises to report findings in a way that preserves respondents’ anonymity and confidentiality.

The survey divided into two geographic regions: west coast and east coast.