Competition, Excess Capacity, and the Pricing of Port Infrastructure

The pricing of infrastructure, such as this of commercially competing ports, is one of the most controversial aspects of the global economy of the 21st century. The controversy arises from the need to reconcile the economic development impacts of infrastructure investments with the, under commercial terms, recovery of investment costs. In developed countries and regions, the role of ‘public investment’ is thus re-evaluated, while the concept of ‘competition on infrastructure’ is increasingly challenged by the need to establish a level playing field among competing ports. The paper shows how Marginal Cost Pricing of port infrastructure can be a powerful ‘pricing discipline’ towards achieving cost recovery and fair competition among ports. To succeed in this, the paper advocates for stronger policy intervention in order to ensure greater transparency of port accounting systems, better and more harmonised port statistics, a meaningful set of state aid guidelines, and stricter application of Competition Law in port infrastructure investments.International Journal of Maritime Economics (2002) 4, 323–347. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.ijme.9100053