Port Maintenance John R. Lethbridge, World Bank. World Bank Infrastructure Note No. The use of outside contractors for some port maintenance tasks offers an attractive alternative to port managers seeking to improve their equipment availability and faced with a poorly staffed and equipped workshop and serious shortages of spare parts. The decision to adopt this approach, however, must be carefully evaluated to avoid subsequent problems and to realize the full benefits. Procurement arrangements must be well thought out, financed, cost-controlled and supervised for the results to be successful.
Good management is the key.
Port reforms in Argentina have sought to deregulate, decentralize, and privatize. And they have sought to introduce competition not only among ports but also for the ports by inviting operators to bid for port concessions and within the ports by dividing large ports into terminals and offering each as a separate concession. Bidders were asked to set their own charges, subject to a maximum price cap for cargo, and concessions were awarded on the basis of the highest rental offered for the infrastructure and equipment. The results have been generally positive, with increased productivity, higher cargo volumes, and big reductions in tariffs. Antonio Estache and Jos Carbajo look at the lessons from the reform and set out the remaining challenges.