In 2011, the National Diet of Japan passed a law to implement the policy of International Container Strategy Ports, which would be applied to public-built private-management system and private company financing methods to container terminals at the main ports operated by Port Management Bodies which are local governments. It would also establish the port management corporation at each port in order to improve the productivity of container terminals throughout Japan. Port management corporations have already been established at several ports such as “Kobe-Osaka International Port Corporation” and “Yokohama-Kawasaki International Port Corporation”.
The purpose of establishing port management corporations for container terminals is to amend the rigid port management system by local governments, and to be prepared to provide a quick response to global economic changes and the wills of cargo owners and shipping companies. Current port management corporations, however, are facing various problems of management.
On the other hand, under the current economic environment, port management needs to make new capital investment to cope with the issues such as the tightening of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions regulations, and the improvement of an industrial safety and health environment for port workers.
Therefore, in this report, the author would like to first analyze the issues that current port management face, and then propose solutions for them, followed by proffering effective methods and scenarios to implement the solutions. At the end, a process will be proposed, as research perspectives for improving the productivity and sustainability of port management.
This report is based on the author’s research in seven fields of geography, engineering, finance, administrative law, business administration, risk management and politics. This report is the first systematic research on port management system as well as a groundbreaking one in the research history of port management.
Key Words: Port Management, Management Corporation, Productivity, Sustainability