Port integration for enhancing competitive advantage

Abstract

With its long coastline and strategic location, India is supposed to be in a dominant position in maritime transportation. But due to poor infrastructure and policy framework, the country extensively depends on other maritime nations such as Singapore and Colombo for transshipment. This increases the cost of exports and imports thereby placing India at a disadvantage in the global market. In response to this alarming situation, the government has taken a major initiative to promote three transshipment ports with world class facilities in the southern part of India. It is expected that these ports would compete with other transshipment ports, particularly with Colombo, and bring the transshipped cargo back to India. This paper makes an attempt to assess the competitive environment that is likely to emerge when all the three ports become operational and suggest a suitable strategy for them to enhance their competitiveness in the new environment. Biography: M.Bina Celine Dorathy is a doctorate in the area of foreign trade. She is a gold medalist in MBA shipping and logistics. She has been in the field of teaching for almost 20 years. Her areas of interest are International Business and Finance. She is also a corporate trainer. She is actively involved in research guidance. She has published several articles in national and international journals.