The issue of financing and pricing of port infrastructure has recently been the subject of
widespread debate in Europe and it is now high on the political agenda of the European
Union. This is the result of globalisation and the changing operational environment of ports,
as well as of the increased port competition brought about by the completion of the internal
market. Greater private sector interest in the port industry, as well as in the rest of Europe's
infrastructure, necessitates some form of cost-based pricing that would allow the recovery of …

A growing amount of attention in Europe is currently being focused on the desirability and
scope of a more harmonised approach to port financing and pricing. A large scale, pan-
European research project for the European Commission (DG Transport and Energy),
known under the acronymATENCO'(Analysis of the main Trans-European Network ports'
COst structures) 1 has been recently finalised. The project's main goal was to provide input
for an in-depth reflection on (a) the implications of a strategy to achieve efficient pricing; and …