The data were collected through individual interviews. The port community actors that were
considered to be interviewed were: i) Santos Port Authority - named as PA; ii) a container
terminal - named as CT; iii) a ship agent acting in Santos - named as SA; iv) a customs broker
bound to São Paulo State Customs Broker Union (Sindicato dos Despachantes Aduaneiros de São
Paulo – SINDASP) - named as CB; and v) an employee from Customs Office (Delegacia da
Receita Federal) in Santos - named as CO.
The interviews were conducted in the context of a viability study of single window
implementation in Brazilian ports (Llop et al., 2011), developed by Fundación Valenciaport
(Spain) for Brazilian Ministry of Ports (SEP) with resources from Spain’s Government Viability
Studies Fund – Fondo de Estudios de Viabilidad (FEV). The term single window, according to
recommendation No. 33 of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic
Business (UN/CEFACT, 2005), refers to a mechanism that allows the involved parts in
international trading and transport to present the necessary documents and information to fulfil the
regulations related to import, export and transit operations in a standard way, in a single entry
point and only one time.
The data were recorded on digital media to facilitate its subsequent description, analysis and
interpretation. Each description was sent to critical appreciation of each individual interviewee
aiming to eliminate dubious points and complement any possible gaps, which has served as
validation of interview’s description. The interviews presented variable duration, situated between
2.5 and 3 hours.
After the interviews, content analysis was carried out and the main dysfunctions and
improvement opportunities were identified and classified. Factors were initially classified into
two groups considering their location and origin. Regarding to location, two kinds of factors were
identified: i) the ones related to vessels operation (berthing, loading and unloading); and ii) the
ones associated to the cargo (procedures to the entrance and release of containers, full and empty).
On the other hand, regarding to origin, factors were classified in: i) factors associated to physical
flow – entrance and release of containers and vessels operation; and ii) factors related to
information flow – documents, systems, etc. Due to the high number of identified factors, in order
to have a better classification, they were grouped into four categories, according to the aspects
they are related to: i) coordination/governance; ii) regulation; iii) information systems; and iv)
operations.