Love thy neighbour

Instead of competing with neighboring terminal operators, it may be sensible, subject to complying with relevant competition laws and merger regulations, to enter into some form of collaboration or strategic alliance with neighbouring terminals to lower cost, improve facility utilisation and create greater economies of scale.

This may range from operational cooperation to full integration. Operational cooperation includes sharing of management personnel, stevedore companies or other operational equipment.

Full integration could take place in the form of an absorption merger where one company takes over another company and then dissolves the target company or in the form of a newly established merger where two or more companies are being merged to form a new company with the original companies being dissolved.