The goods carried by the international shipping industry from one country to another account for about 90 percent of the total world trade. The industry relies heavily on cargo ships and ports to make sure goods imported from or exported to various locations including other countries are received and delivered efficiently and on time. At stake is the health of numerous companies that need materials, machinery and equipment for the production of industrial, agricultural and a variety of other types of goods. Exporters and importers of finished products also rely on the industry to keep their stocks in stores.
If you have saved enough money for a business venture you have investors ready and willing to put their resources at your disposal, constructing a port is not a bad idea. But there a lot of things you have to take care of. Location is very important. You want it within the shipping lanes, easily accessible from main roads and business centers and, have reliable communication facilities and power sources. There are various government requirements to comply with and the necessary linkages to establish.
Building the port itself is not that easy. It is important to come up with a reliable strategic forecast of the number and type of ships and the volume of cargo the port will likely handle. This will give you a good idea of the number of births, the number and type of cargo equipment, and facilities it needs to have in order to efficiently handle incoming and outgoing cargo. The forecast enables you to determine the amount of investment needed by the project and help you prioritize expenditures. You would not want to spend resources on things that later on will prove to be not helpful in the operations of the port.
Building a functional and efficient port requires people with varied expertise and adequate experience. Your best option to avoid committing costly mistakes and maximize your resources is to hire the services of these people. There are many consulting companies offering different services related to ports operations, but you want a company that can help build from the scratch, a company with vast experience in the areas of forecasting, logistics, construction planning and building, selection of Cargo Handling Equipment and development of systems to run the numerous tasks involved. You can determine the company you can entrust the job to by visiting websites of consulting companies specializing in port operations.
In fact, you need the services of experts right at the start. Government agencies responsible for port building applications need concrete and viable plans and experts can help satisfy the requirement. Your investors will also demand these plans before they commit money to the venture. Of course, they need something tangible to base their decision on. If you are thinking of accessing capital from a bank, the more you need the services of experts because banks look at the project’s potential ability to repay loans. They have their own experts to evaluate the feasibility of projects being considered for financial assistance.