EFFECTS OF PROLONGED PORT PRIVATIZATION PROCESS: A CASE STUDY OF PORT OF İZMIR ALSANCAK
Abstract
Developing countries privatize ports with several expectations such as shifting the vast amount of investment responsibility to private parties and increasing the efficiency of the port. Turkey is one of the countries where port privatization practices have been significantly experienced in recent years. The majority of large ports in Turkey operated by the government were successfully privatized through transfer of the operational rights and concessionaires made considerable investments at these ports. However, privatization of Port of İzmir was interrupted after an extended period, and the port has not received a significant investment in infrastructure and superstructure. This paper investigates the case of Port of İzmir to discuss the effects of lengthy port privatization process on users as well as on the competitiveness of the port by examining cargo handling statistics and conducting semi-structured interviews with port users and related practitioners. The case of Port of İzmir Alsancak suggests that although the benefit of port privatization to the public is controversial in port literature, prolonged process of port privatization is detrimental to port users, competitiveness of ports, and to the public.
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References
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