Rethinking maritime privatization in Africa

Abstract

While recognizing the need for increased participation of the private sector in the maritime industry of developing countries, there is a need to go beyond the call for privatization in terms of mere change of ownership from state to private sector as the only solution to the inefficiency of the maritime industry in developing countries. This limited understanding of the maritime problems of these countries abounds in the literature on maritime privatization. This study departs from this approach and focuses on the political economy of the maritime industry, and suggests that maritime privatization will not necessarily result in increased efficiency of the divested maritime enterprises. Rather, it argues that maritime problems in these countries have less to do with ownership than with the structural constraints in world shipping together with internal management and local ~olitics. The maritime industrv in West and Central Africa is used as a case studv. . . and recommendations such as selective privatization, 'programme contract', and most importantly, corporatization, are suggested as alternative strategies that could enhance maritime privatization and the development of the maritime industry in developing countries.

The Politics of Ports: Privatization and the World's Ports

“…That is, the multiplicity of ports and transportation problems in the interior make privatization more like wishful thinking than a policy that can work. 6 While market forces are touted as the cure for inefficient state stewardship, the case has not been proved. In some cases, decline is merely a case of geography and luck.…”