Effect of institutional factors on dry ports performance at embakasi internal container depot, Kenya

Abstract

Poor performance of dry port that is characterized by delay has been experienced lately in Kenya. Delay of containers on container clearance has emerged and evident at Embakasi Internal Container Depot which has indicated long clearance period or overstay of received containers at the port for more than 10-12 days. The delay in clearing containers at the port is made worse by lack of suitable container handling equipment, poor customs operations, inadequacy of port infrastructure, staff incompetence and the size and capacity of the port. To reap the maximum benefit from dry ports, the efficient and effective performance of the dry ports is very crucial and to do that it is important to identify factors which affect the performance of dry ports. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of institutional factors on performance of Embakasi Internal Container Depot, a Kenyan Dry Port. The objectives of the study were: to determine the effect of port infrastructure on performance of Embakasi Internal Container Depot, to evaluate the effect of human resources on performance of Embakasi Internal Container Depot, to establish the effect of operations on performance of Embakasi Internal Container Depot and to find out the effect on customers/stakeholder perception on performance of Embakasi Internal Container Depot.. This study adopted d explanatory research design. The study targeted a total population of 302. A sample size of 169 respondents was selected using Kumar’s formulae and the study adopted stratified sampling design. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. Research instruments were validated by the university supervisors. Piloting was used to test the reliability of the research instruments. An overall correlation coefficient of 0.76 was obtained for all variables which exceeded the prescribed threshold of 0.7 meaning they were reliable. Data was collected using structured questionnaire which was analyzed using both descriptive with the aid of SPSS version 24.0 and inferential statistic. Results of the study were presented in form of frequency tables, charts and graphs. From the regression findings, the predicted value of dry port performance at dry port performance holding infrastructure, human resources, operations and customers’ perception to a constant zero would be 4.011. Infrastructure has a significance effect on dry port performance as indicated by β 1 = 0.754, p=0.013< 0.05. This implies that a unit increase in infrastructure would lead to an increase in dry port performance by 0.772 units. Human resources had a significance effect on dry port performance as indicated by β 1 = 0.772, p= 0.013< 0.05. This implies that a unit increase in human resources would lead to an increase in dry port performance by 0.772 units. Operations had a significance effect on employee performance as shown by β1= 0.661, p=0.014< 0.05. This implied that a unit increase in operations would lead to an increase in dry port performance by 0.661 units. Customers perception has a significance effect on dry port performance as indicated by β 1 = 0.642, p= 0.015< 0.05. This implied that a unit increase in Customers perception would lead to an increase in dry port performance by 0.642 units. At 5% level of significance and 95% level of confidence, all the variables were significant (p<0.05). The study recommended that in order to improve the performance of Embakasi Internal Container Depot, the government should invest on port infrastructure. The study was limited to Embakasi Internal Container Depot and to enhance generalization, further studies should be carried in other ports.