Based on existing studies on port expansion strategy and comparative analysis on major 3 GTOs (PSA, HPH, DPW) strategies for port investment, this study aims to identify problems of their investment in Korean and overseas ports and to draw up remedies of the problems and key successful factors of port investment strategy.
The problems of port investment done by major 3 GTOs now having presence in Korea ports are identified as follows;
a) Problems of overseas port investment that are; lack of selection and focus on port investment, insufficiency of strategic sales and marketing, excessive competition over investment in Chinese port, deficiency of competitive edge compared to Global Carrier's Terminal Operators(GCTOs) etc.
b) Problems of Korean port investment that are; Over-trust of Korean government's port policy with insufficient analysis on forecast of port supply and demand, lack of consistency of port development policy, short-term sales and marketing strategy on a quick - sales - and - small - profit basis, inadequacy of risk analysis on investment in Korea ports, clash of Korean culture, especially labor union issue etc.
Therefore, this study infers the essential factors of GTO's successful strategy for port investment from the above mentioned problems as below;
a) Thorough risk analysis before and after port investment ; equilibrium of port supply and volume demand now and in future etc.
b) Understanding of local port policy and localization of GTO's port investment; set up of more cooperative relationship with local government and port authority to understand local port related laws and regulations and to continue their port business and further investment in an effective manner.
c) Win-Win strategy and strategic partnership (ie. joint-venture) with competitors to minimize risk of port investment and to pave the way for volume inducement.
d) Long-term sales and marketing strategy based on long-run payback period in nature of port investment ; to minimize possibility of operating loss that may be arising from quick-sales-small-profit based strategy if fixed cost is increased on a yearly basis.
e) Development of oligopolistic synergy effect through GTO's global network; to increase stable volume through a terminal service contract between oligopolistic GTOs and oligopolistic shipping lines etc.
f) Conversion local-focused terminal operation into GTO's global operation system; adoption of GTOs' know-how and accumulated knowledge of global terminal operations etc.
g) GTO's competitive advantages on port investment compared to GCTOs.
The result of this study provides a basic benchmarking data on port investment with Korean government and terminal operators wanting to enter into overseas ports and also demonstrates key elements to Korea-port-entered-GTO's future success for further investment in Korea.