Berbera Maritime Fishery Academy (BMFA)

The subject of statistics is not a new discipline but it is as old as the human society itself. In
the ancient times statistics was regarded only as the science of statecraft and was used to
collect information relating to crimes, military strength, population, wealth, etc., for devising
military and fiscal policies. But with the concept of welfare State taking roots almost all over
the world, the scope of statistics has widened to social and economic phenomenon.
Moreover, with the developments in the statistical techniques during the last few decades,
today, statistics a means of sound techniques for their handling and analysis and drawing
valid inferences from them.
In the maritime industry, particularly port industry which is complex need to collect and
present in order to make proper decisions. In preparing strategy, port need to measure
financially, operationally, customer satisfaction and human resource performance. Financial
performance measurement of a port across all services is the ultimate target, though on the
whole an unrealistic one because many service providers in a port operate using a mix of
private and public corporate models. Port operation is the largest and most commonly
applied area in port performance assessment. In terms of the primary data concerned with
the movement of vessels, people, cargo and information, the measures consist of volume
moved in relation to time, area and technical capacity. Human resource development further
enhance port service delivery and trade facilitation, and in turn national economic welfare.
The numbers employed by broad category, the nature of labour institutional arrangements
such as permanent or temporary, gender balance and the incidence of lost time caused by
strikes or other labour-related stoppages. The relative cost of types of labour as a proportion
of all costs and/or revenue is comparable.
There are several reasons for collecting statistical and other data related to ports. The
traditional one is to show the role of the port within the national economy. This appears in
the amount of investment expenditure, the number of ships visiting the port and their
tonnage, the volume of goods loaded and discharged, classified main groups of commodities,
the number of workers engaged in the port industry. Statistical and other data are used as
tool for improving port operations. The management may wish to compare on a continuous
basis, the actual port activity and its potential. The data collected for this purpose should
provide an intimate understanding of functioning of the port. This is essential in order that
the necessary decisions for increasing efficiency the port. The port activity is complex one,
because most of its component are closely interrelated. As a result, a decision which is good
for one sector may produce unfavorable effects in other sectors of the port. For management
purposes certain efficiency indicators are needed from the port. Another purpose of
collecting information and presenting it in systematic form is to provide appropriate basis
for planning port development. The problem of how much, where and when to invest is
therefore crucial importance because a mistake may have a strong negative influence for a
very long time to come. Hence the need for having adequate and accurate information is very
important for decision making process. Port information can also be used to assess the
justification of various prices related in the port operators and port users

Course: Business statistics , Lecturer: Shacban Abdilahi Elmi

 Berbera Maritime Fishery Academy (BMFA)

The word statistics is derived from the Latin word status, meaning “state.” Statistics were
originally “state numbers. The following are some definitions of statistics:
Statistics is the science of counting
Statistics is the science of estimates and probabilities
Statistics are a set of procedures that allow the user to collect, analyze, and interpret the
meaning of usually large sets of numeric data
Science of collecting, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data in order to make
decisions.
Statistics is a branch of mathematics concerned with the collection, analysis,
interpretation, and presentation of masses of numeric data

Statistics are the aggregates of facts. It means a single figure is not statistics.
Statistics are affected by a number of factors.
Statistics must be reasonably accurate.
Statistics must be collected in a systematic manner.
Collected in a systematic manner for a pre-determined purpose

There are two types: Descriptive and inferential statistics

Descriptive statistics is the branch of statistics that involves the organization,
summarization, and display of data.
Inferential statistics is the branch of statistics that involves using a sample to draw
conclusions about a population. A basic tool in the study of inferential statistics is
probability.

Some important definitions:

ü Data set is a collection of measurements
ü Data is measurements or observations
ü Statistic is a descriptive statistic that describes a characteristic of a sample,
ü Parameter is a descriptive statistic that describes a characteristic of a population. A
subset of the population studied or measured in order to make inferences about the
population
ü Data is raw, unorganized facts that need to be processed.
ü Information is processed data is processed, organized, structured or presented in a given
context so as to make it us

Course: Business statistics , Lecturer: Shacban Abdilahi Elmi