Port Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Port Management - strain ExampleThe re behavior favours a part macrocosm and part private model since alone public model has led to economic losses and burden on state budget while all private model may create social risks as massive layoffs.Ports, being public sector units in most of the nations, be target for institutional reforms. The similar port activities when compared in terms of effect differ between ports and even within same region. For e.g. in 1991, Western European ports handled containers ranging from 14 to 30 moves per hour per crane. An Asian port handles 458 containers in three and a half hour while some other port in the same region took 2-3 days for same amount of work. The labour productivity overly differs between ports. In 1993, a port in Far East employed 7 two hundred workers to handle 200 million tons of cargo while another port in same region indispensable 52000 strong labour force to handle 150 million tons of cargo. It is evident nations realised t hat low productivity and gritty speak tos are proving a deterrent to development of trade and national economy (UNCTAD, 1995). Sommer (1999) also noticed that unprecedented increase in world trade led captive port users (having cargo vertically integrated into production) to put political pressures on authorities to improve handling facilities and thin out cost of port services. Sommer also points out another important reason for reforms that underdeveloped superstructures with modern strategical location and improved efficiency was beyond the funding capacity of public port authorities. Particularly the developing countries are not getting advantages of low cost of production in their land due to the high costs of port services. As an example, loading of a cargo of soybean on board of a ship cost $65 in South American ports compared to only $20 per ton at North American ports (UNCTAD, 1995). Sometimes the port infrastructure does not have major defects yet the cost of port s ervices is too high. In the UNCTAD survey on the ports of CtedIvoire, Ethiopia, Kenya and Senegal, the port facilities were reasonably good that the boundary between port and government was sooner too heavy. As a result managers were circumscribe in utilising ports commercially. The unnecessary intervention by the state and lengthy processing prevented management from responding quickly to commercialize needs by reshuffling operations as the need may arise. Moreover, the decision makers catered to demands of government rather than to the market requirements. If at all the changes were made, these were either too late or too small to be cost effective for the client. Many countries have labour regulations. Excessive Labour and strong trade unions are not market friendly. If market tries to punish a port for not fulfilling its demands, ports are not peril because government support comes as financial subsidy.