How are the Portuguese port’s contributing to Portugal’s competitiveness?

Portugal has gone through a harsh economic crises in the last years. Step by step the country is recovering, this is also seen in regards to the national ports. Their throughout in the last years has increased a lot, especially the Port of Sines. Ports are vital logistic infrastructure needed in order for the nation to be competitive, especially given the fact that Portugal has an extensive coastline. If the Portuguese ports are indeed contributing to Portugal’s competitiveness is analyzed throughout this paper. A answer to this research question is provided by informational interviews with various actors from the maritime sector. People which are on a daily bases involved wit the Portuguese ports, specifically the Port of Lisbon, Sines and Setúbal, and have a clear notion of the development and bottlenecks the ports face. Research demonstrated that the Portuguese ports have realized the importance of hinterland accessibility which is so often stated in literature. (Notteboom, 2010; Zhang, 2008) This is demonstrated by the construction of new railway lines which will shorten the distance from the Port of Lisbon, Setúbal and Sines to Badajoz (Spain). A competitive advantage which the ports need in order to reach the Madrid consumer region. a long term aim of the Portuguese ports. However, there are issues which the ports need to address in order to increase their competitive position, such as; longer congestion periods, solve once and for all syndicate issues and increase terminal efficiency. In general, with the developments that is seen in the last few years, we can state that the Portuguese ports are contributing to Portugal’s competitiveness. They are, through there improvements, acting as an engine for economic growth and helping strengthen the national business climate.