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.