PPRN launches research stream on port finance

A new stream of research on port finance is launched within the Port Performance Research Network (PPRN). The first meeting of the group will take place in August during the PPRN annual meeting organized on the eve of the IAME (International Association of Maritime Economists) Conference (23-26 August 2016, Hamburg, Germany), with PortEconomics members Francesco Parola, Jean-Paul Rodrigue,  Theo Notteboom, Thanos Pallis, and Giovanni Satta being among the leading scholars involved.

Over the last decades, the relation between the international financial sector and the port industry became much more intense, as recognised by some seminal contributions (Rodrigue et al., 2011; Notteboom and Rodrigue, 2012). In the port industry, indeed, the growing need of financial resources for realizing mega-project stimulated the resort to innovative financial solutions as well as the entry of financial players such as merchant banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and so on. Initial public offerings became an additional instrument in the hands of private terminal operators and port companies for raising financial resources.

The purpose of this research group is to advance knowledge on port management by adopting the analytical lens of general finance literature. Referring to the port industry, topics include but may not be limited to:

• The implications of port strategy on port investments
• Financial sources and financial requirements
• Public and private commitment in port financing (Public-private-partnerships; project financing; bond financing, etc.)
• Capital expenditures and working capital requirements
• Port and terminal industry financialization
• Equity and debt capital markets for financing port infrastructures
• Entry of financial investors
• Investments and risk perception
• Port-related Initial Public Offerings
• Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A).