Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Transportation Research Part A journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tra Assessing the impact of major infrastructure projects on port choice decision: The Colombian case Laura Vega, Víctor Cantillo ⁎ , Julián Arellana Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Colombia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Port choice Colombian ports Maritime lines Revealed preferences Discrete choice models ABSTRACT Developing adequate port infrastructure, improving port efficiency and other logistical im- provements have a significant influence on the port choice decision. Then, identifying the most influential attributes considered by exporters and importers when choosing a port is crucial when planning major infrastructure projects. This paper evaluates the port choice decision when competition between ports exists by using several data sources, including the official records of imports and exports in Colombia. Results show that the cost of port access, the frequency of maritime lines, maritime freight rates, maritime travel time, origin or destination and the type of cargo, play a key role in the port selection process. Major infrastructure projects influence port choice mainly through their impact on perceived costs. Policies and strategies aimed to improve the efficiency of a port’s operation and their levels of service, such as increasing the frequencies of lines or decreasing maritime freight and transit times, could have a substantial impact on demand. 1. Introduction Colombia is a unique South American country with ports in the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, having a maritime geographical privileged position regarding shipping routes. It is close to the Panama Canal and represents a connection point between North American and South American countries. The country’s location allows it to be the gateway to South America. Colombia is also a convergence site for maritime and air routes connecting to the rest of America, Europe and countries of the Pacific Rim. In Colombia, maritime transport is experiencing an annual growth rate close to 8.1% and has led to the evolution of size and capacity of ships. Consequently, Colombian ports are modernizing to diversify their services and maximize their efficiency by de- creasing their costs. Until 1993, port terminals in Colombia were administrated by the state company Ports of Colombia –COLPUERTOS–. Prior to this date, high indexes of low productivity and inefficiency appeared causing high operational costs for the government. Those high operational costs lead to the necessity for modernization of maritime terminals by linking the private sector to the port’s activities. Inside this frame of privatization of port activity, the government made concession agreements to Regional Port Societies (Gaviria, 1998) for the main state ports (Buenaventura, Santa Marta, Cartagena, Barranquilla, and Tumaco) in 1993. The goals of those concession rights were lowering the rates, improving the levels of efficiency of port operations, and modernizing the port services. The results for the mentioned main ports were positive as they became more efficient and competitive. Even though Colombia has a privileged geographical position; the country also has some factors that impose difficulties for moving products efficiently. Among them, the most highlighted difficulties are the road infrastructure and the distance between the https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2018.12.021 Received 24 July 2017; Received in revised form 3 December 2018; Accepted 19 December 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: victor.cantillo@uninorte.edu.co (V. Cantillo). Transportation Research Part A 120 (2019) 132–148 0965-8564/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T