Money isnt just there for the taking

But even a surfeit of investment funds cannot, however, help those who do not help themselves.

If, as one relatively minor European port did recently, you look for investment without a serious game plan or indeed a plan whose primary purpose is to remove a problem then the result is fairly predictable – nothing will happen and, to be honest, nothing is what deserves to happen.

If you offer container and general cargo facilities for concession but a/ stipulate that a new quay which is actually not required for use has to be built, b/ offer an existing quay on the container facility which has severe restrictions regarding the loadings imposed on it to the extent that container vessels have to turn round to complete being worked, c/ include in the deal debt which has been piled up due to such extraordinary events as acquiring homes for select port workers, and d/ you wrap into the “opportunity” a large business which has mostly nothing to do with the port and which possesses a huge workforce in need of rationalisation then who in their right mind would be interested? And so it proved, no takers!

This brings us back to a drum that has been banged heavily before in this column – i.e. preparation and planning is everything when it comes to attracting inward investment.

First, realise that there are usually more projects than investors and secondly that as a result you have to package your opportunity to maximise interest. It is a competitive scenario – other parties are competing for the available “pot”. In turn, this means that tactics such as wrapping questionable debt into a business and/or not dealing with serious workforce issues prior to an effective privatisation are short-sighted to say the very least. It does not show a serious path and the result, as recently proved to be the case, is inevitable – no serious bidders whatsoever.