Port Investment: Profitability, Economic Impact and Financing

Port investment is a key issue in modern port economics with respect to planning port development, financing and assessing the return on investment. This chapter addresses some of the features related to port investment, starting from the evaluation of the main paradigms that characterize the port industry from a global point of view, and focusing on the relations, synergies and conflicts between the numerous stakeholders actually involved. Profitability, economic impact and financing are seen as the most critical nodes in the complex chain of port investment decisions.The chapter builds up a comprehensive scenario where single aspects and variables related to port investments can fit into a general scheme of interrelations that identifies feasible outcomes. The foreseeable outputs in terms of demand and supply provide insights for possible incentives to efficiency to be improved upon by decision-makers at different levels, promoting the reduction of conflicts and a synergy of interests.