A study undertaken on the Portuguese economy by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found that the current management format is not the best one in terms of boosting the country’s overall competitiveness.
The OECD is especially critical of the seemingly-automatic renewal of private operator concessions. The study concluded that it would like the state to both issue a new public tender at the end of each contract and also fix minimum investment levels to be made in new contracts. Furthermore, contracts should not be awarded based on best price bid, but rather in terms of the most affordable prices charged for companies operating in the terminals.
According to the study, the “often-excessive duration” of port concessions is a negative factor since they impair “innovation and competition in tariffs”, despite the fact that Portuguese concessions can be substantially lower than those in neighbouring Spain.
