In a recently published bulletin by the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Transport Sector, Egyptian Maritime Data Bank, a phrase in the editorial was a pertinent summary of the current situation. The editorial discusses the role of the government and nation in the development of ports and says: “We have great potentials, but we lack strategic planning that combine moonlighting will and administration, studied adventure and accurately determined objectives.”

What does this mean? Today the Ministry of Transport, through its Maritime Transport Sector division is responsible for the infrastructure and activities of all the Egyptian ports, except for the private sector terminals in Port Said East and Sukhna in the Red Sea. In addition, the existing State-run container terminals come under the responsibility of the Ports Holding Company, which is responsible to the Ministry of Investment (although from an administrative point of view it still reports to the Maritime Sector). The Holding Company is therefore in competition with the private sector. This competition is increasing as the government is considering further terminal concessions in Damietta to expand the port with another 1m teu of capacity.

Significant infrastructure investment will be required to develop the ports under the auspices of the holding company. This will have to come from the State, but what is the incentive for this investment if there is wider leasing and concessioning of the terminals to private investors from the Gulf states and China, among others? What is needed is a national port development strategy that addresses the broader issues of public vs. private investment and the role of State-owned companies. Not an insignificant challenge for any country.