Strategic planning processes of port systems: A comparative analysis of Brazil and Spain

Abstract

According to the World Economic Forum (Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016), the logistics infrastructure in Brazil lags behind developed countries despite its powerful economy. The quality of the transport infrastructure is ranked 77th globally; ranking 121th in road infrastructure; 98th in railway infrastructure; 95th for air transport and 120th for quality of port infrastructure. These positions need to be improved if Brazil wants to remain one of the largest economies in the world for the coming decades. On the other hand, in terms of port infrastructure, Spain occupies 12th position. There are other issues and attributes that could be used to compare both port systems (such as the skills of dockworkers, the institutional framework of the country or the macroeconomic aspects, among others).

Our goal in this paper was to perform a comparative analysis of the strategic planning processes used in the port systems of both Brazil and Spain. The results show that these two countries utilise similar planning systems. Nevertheless, and perhaps due to the recent institutional changes in Brazil, the Brazilian port system has a lot of room for improvement, when compared to the Spanish system. Better alignment between national and local strategy, the transformation of the port authorities that still have not become autonomous companies, or the focus on the implementation of the strategy (using plans updated yearly, aligned with the Strategic Plan) are three actions that we can suggest to those responsible for the formulation of public policies and directives of the Brazilian Port Authorities.