• Journal of Korean Port Research
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.215-232
• /
• 1999

Privatisation has emerged within the past few decades as one of the most significant challenges to public ports and their governments throughout the world. More than forty countries have committed to some form of port privatisation thus far and they will quite likely be joined by dozens more by the turn of the century. A decision to privatise ports can be driven by a variety of forces. The most obvious is to relieve a financially strapped government by turning to the private sector for an infusion of capital required to modernise and sustain port operations, or to bolster the national treasury. Inefficient and costly port operations can seriously impair the competitiveness of a nation’s export industries and artificially raise the cost and thus constrain the availability of imported goods. Privatisation in certain circumstances therefore holds the promise of stimulating economic growth particularly for those whose livelihood depends directly upon port activity and trade. The main objective of this paper is first of all, to introduce a variety of methods of port privatisation after reviewing the reason why port facilities should be privatised. This paper also aims to make some proposals with which a port privatisation process in Korea can be improved after summarising the present Terminal Operating Company(TOC) system propelled by Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.