PORT COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT:

All ports are directly or indirectly in a competitive market. One or the key characteristics of a
successful commercially-oriented port is to understand the criteria by which port users
operate when choosing their ports. Ports that want to be more competitive for a particular
type of cargo, must know exactly which factors should be improved and to what extent and
what the outcome will be.
Impact of Intense Competition:

 Competition for cargo among seaports on a regional, national, and international basis.
 With ever increasing ship sizes, larger ships will need to make less calls, and even
then, by necessity, to only the larger ships with sufficient levels of cargo, draft and
infrastructure. This means that some seaports may no longer be included on major
trade routes, which is placing added pressure on reaching deeper into hinterlands.
 Strategic alliances and mergers within maritime transportation are becoming more
commonplace.
 Changes to seaport ownership and governance due to government reform.

 Product Strategies for Seaports- Seaports offer a large complex

mix of similar services provided by the seaport or private
operators with little differentiation promoted between
competitors. An opportunity exists to understand the service
product in strategic terms by using models to categorise what
the seaport offers in terms of the core service, facilitating goods
and services and supporting goods and services. By undertaking
this exercise and conducting market research on services offered
by competing seaports, it is possible to highlight the supporting
goods and services that differentiate the seaport from others and
therefore provide a potential competitive advantage. F o r
e x a m p l e , in A l b an i a , a l m o s t h a l f t h e s e a p o r t s s u g g e s t
t h e i r c o r e s e r v i c e a s b e i n g t r ad e f a c i l i t a ti o n . T h i s m a y
n e e d t o b e m o r e c l e a r l y a r t i c u l a t e d in promoti onal
materials and be bett er explained for the local community, in
terms of the regional economic benefits that arise from being a trade
facilitator.

• Logistical Strategies for Seaports- Logistics is an important issue for

seaports, particularly on the land-side by establishing connections
 primarily with road and rail to reach customers in the hinterland.
According to the seaport marketing literature and the findings logisti cs
is not currently supported as being a major marketing acti v ity
because of the parti cular operati onal expertise required in
logisti cs. Further in-depth study of seaports is required in this
area to determine the contributi on marketing could make to
increase trade by strategically managing the logistical function.

Pricing strategies for seaports- P r i c i n g is another activity

t h a t d o e s n o t t e n d t o r e c e i v e a m a r k e t i n g f o c u s The
importance of pricing cannot be underestimated To develop a pricing
strategy, market research can assist in segmenting c u s t o m e r s
according to particular characteristics for example, those that
a r e c o s t conscious as opposed to customers willing to pay more for added
value or higher quality services. Likewise, market research may suggest
customers that are suitable for entering into long-term contracts meaning
that the pricing focus should emphasise developing relationships. For
example, the use of guarantees may attract new customers, the use of a loyalty
program or incentives for additional throughput may retain valuable
customers so pricing can be used as a promotional tool to attract cost conscious
customers particularly when similar services are offered by competing
seaports.

Marketing Communication Strategies for seaports- Three major objectives

should be considered when developing marketing communication strategies
for seaports:
1. Attracting new customers and informing current customers;
2 . I n f o r m i n g an d r e m i n d in g t h e l o c a l c o m m u n i t y o f t h e
c o n t r ib u ti o n m ad e b y t h e seaport; and
3. Information sharing and consultation with employees.
To achieve the above three objecti ves, the promoti ons mix consisting
of adverti sing, publicity, public relati ons, sales promoti ons and
personal selling, with the additi on of word-of-mouth communication are
all relevant for promoting seaports
Employee and Customer Strategies for Seaports

T h e i n t e r a c t i o n between employees and customers is critical to the

success of the seaport. Face-to-face contact is broadly accepted as being
the essence of marketing efforts. Although there has been some recognition
of the benefits of employee training, seaport research does not appear
to have fully embraced the development of employee and customer strategies,
nor linked them with the role of marketing. E m p l o y i n g c u s t o m e r -
oriented employees and requiring all employees to undertake
customer service and customer satisfaction training during induction is
one means of creating a customer-focused seaport.

Service Process Strategies for Seaports

It appears for seaports that consideration of the service process is not a
marketing domain, h o w e v e r , a s m a r k e t i n g i s s t i l l d e v e l o p i n g , t h i s
m a y c h a n g e i n t h e f u t u r e a s gr e a t e r attention is paid to processes
that affect customer satisfaction. This is another function requiring
greater in-depth study of how taking a marketing perspective in
managing the service process may assist in increasing cargo throughput.