Government policies and Portuguese port governance in the period from 2005 to 2015

This research focuses on the effect of Portuguese government policies in port management, port strategy and port performance in the period from 2005 to 2015. With the structural equation modeling, we analyzed a sample of 172 observations. Government policies influence the port sector differently. The policies adopted during the period under study produced different effects, especially the national planning policies for investments as well as the central control policy, implemented to make operations and port labor more productive. The main contribution of this paper resides in understanding that it is essential to ensure sustainability conditions for the national port system in an increasingly globalized market where the trend is to be less dependent on the government policies.