Towards a Better Port Industry

Book excerpt: Towards a Better Port Industry provides professionals in freight transport and maritime logistics, and specifically the port industry, as well as students in these fields, with a better conceptual understanding of the port industry. It includes key insights and best practices for port management and development, and an overview of new trends and developments relevant for developing winning strategies. After an introduction, Chapter 2 offers a new perspective on port governance, in which public interests, corporatization, state-ownership, and shareholder policies take a central role. Chapter 3 explains how new trends and developments affect port development and argues that assuming ‘business as usual’ often leads to major port development mistakes. Chapter 4 deals with port development and discusses all major port development challenges, including granting concessions, developing a port vision, crafting stakeholder support, choosing port performance indicators and creating a port innovation system. The final chapter deals with port development strategies and includes themes such as strategies of port development companies, pricing and business development. This book will broaden professionals’ conceptual understanding of the ports industry, and provide insights on the latest developments in this area. For students, this book provides an industry-focused and non-technical ‘essential reading’ for gaining a deep understanding of the ports industry.