The World Bank recently cited International Container Terminal Services, Inc.'s (ICTSI) port projects in South America, Africa and Europe as examples of successful Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) or the contractual arrangements between the public sector and the private sector for the private delivery of public infrastructure services (or other basic services) in the port sector.

In a presentation delivered at the Regional Workshop on Public-Private Partnership in Transport held in Riga, Latvia, Michel Audig', World Bank Lead Transport Specialist in the Infrastructure and Energy Services Department, pointed out the various investments that ICTSI had introduced in Brazil's Suape Container Terminal (SCT), Madagascar's Madagascar International Container Terminal (MICT) and Poland's Baltic Container Terminal (BCT), and how these investments raised operational efficiency at the terminals.

In his study on SCT and BCT, which ICTSI started operating in 2002 and 2003, respectively, Audig' noted ICTSI's multimillion dollar investments in container handling equipment, and how these resulted in the growth of teu (twenty foot equivalent unit) throughput.

For the Toamasina terminal, Audig' cited the sizeable financial returns that Madagascar is set to benefit from the project in terms of investments and concession fees. He also noted the reduction of tariff at the terminal, where handling and reception and delivery fees were lowered by 20 and 10%, respectively, since ICTSI commenced operations in 2005. The study likewise underlined ICTSI's commitment to keep a fixed number of local employees at the terminal.

The Regional Workshop on Public-Private Partnership in Transport aimed to provide an overview of the role and contribution of PPP's in maintaining, upgrading and extending transport infrastructure. The workshop was designed to increase participants' knowledge in several areas, including PPP options and challenges, competitive selection of concessionaires, establishment of regulatory institutions for toll roads, improving governance in transport infrastructure PPP concessions, key success factors for PPP implementation, benefits and risks including traffic forecast risks and impacts on revenues.

Speakers for the workshop included representatives from the Latvian Government, World Bank, Danish Road Directorate, Dutch Infrastructure Fund, Transport and Telecommunication Institute (TTI), ING Infrastructure Finance & Advisory, United Kingdom's Highways Agency, Pell Frischmann Consultants Ltd. and Berwin Leighton Paisner, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Nordic Investment Bank, European Investment Bank, University of Belgrade and Finland's Turku School of Economics.

The workshop was organized by the World Bank, in cooperation with TTI. It was sponsored by the Latvian Ministries of Transport, Economy, and Investment and Development Agency.