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

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.5-13
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• 2015

Purpose - In recent years, concerns over privatization have been growing in some public sectors. Privatization in Britain offers lessons for those who have intended to privatize their industry, and in particular, the port industry. Therefore, it is useful for researchers to examine British port privatization in detail, particularly the implications of UK port privatization. Research design, data, and methodology - After reviewing the historical development of the UK port industry, the important factors determining the success of the British port privatization process were identified. The interpretations could be lessons for some other country to consider port privatization in near future. Results - The key factors in relation to port privatization are first, regulation; second, ownership; and third, utilities and operations, which includes autonomy, efficiency, and competitiveness. In addition, the UK port management system is a pure private port system, which has been successful. Conclusions - In Britain, after deciding to privatize the erstwhile public ports, they were fully privatized, focusing on the aforesaid key factors. This offers important lessons for the privatization of other ports in the world.