Comment: The Minister for the Marine, Mr Gallagher, promised a new dawn when he launched the Government's much-vaunted policy document on the development of the State's commercial ports last Thursday week.

We have not seen such clear statements of intent on how the Government expects the commercial ports sector to operate and progress since the publication of the 1996 Harbours' Act - which transformed some 11 ports into commercial, customer-focused bodies. We should, therefore, welcome the proposals, but reserve our congratulations until we see progress with their implementation.

The 21st century will see a radical transformation in the business base underlying port operations. Intense global competition will force changes in the way all players in the international logistics chain, including ports, do business. Traditional ways are being challenged by demands for gains in port efficiency, increased customer responsiveness and lower costs to move cargo through the port.

Major port facilities take time to design, fund and construct. The recent Baxter Eadie Assessment of Irish Commercial Seaport Capacity reported that there would be a capacity deficit of some 12.2 million tonnes by 2014, or almost 20 per cent of the projected traffic.

Many port companies believe that the capacity deficit predicted is grossly underestimated.

A key challenge facing the port sector is how it is going to fund its infrastructure requirements. Port facilities are expensive and no port is generating the surpluses necessary to fund anticipated infrastructure needs.

However, the Department of the Marine argues that, as commercial entities, ports are generally expected to develop without Exchequer support. It has proposed that any non-core assets - either inherited or as a result of migration downstream from their original location - can be used to fund new port infrastructure.

If only it was that simple! Many ports do not have substantial non-core assets and the private sector, which has been involved in a small number of ventures, has little appetite for large-scale projects where the return is risky or small.

While recognising that significant shortfalls in port infrastructure capacity could result in serious damage to the economy, the Minister envisages a process aimed at identifying a small number of strategic projects to meet the capacity deficit identified.

The aim of the process will be to involve all stakeholders in such provision - with limited Exchequer recourse as residual financier only - using available capital resources, where it is clearly demonstrated that it is essential, to progress the project on a self-sustaining basis.

While this sounds very encouraging, the evaluation criteria have yet to be developed and the financial envelope is not specified.

The fun and games will start with the process for determining priorities and in the definition of what is a strategic project. The capital budget for 2005 for seaports and shipping is €4 million; a continuation of these levels won't go far!

The issue of competition, between ports and within ports, has always been a sore point. There are claims that ports are monopolists but no evidence has been produced to substantiate that ports abuse their position.

Indeed, the improvements in the road network and the introduction of new freight services at competing ports mean that importers/exporters have a greater choice of ports to use.

The call for a regulator has not been supported by the Department, which instead recommends the establishment of an arbitrator whose decisions will be binding.

To ensure competition within ports, the European Commission attempted to introduce a Directive on Market Access to Port Services. It failed narrowly and the new Commission has launched a second proposal.

In the meantime, the Minister will continue to monitor the health of competitive conditions and will seek to ensure that ports uphold the principles in the EU Directive and thereby maximise private sector involvement in port service and capacity provision.

The policy statement surprised many with its inclusion of a proposal to restructure ports' boards. Boards currently comprise 12 members, including three directors nominated by the local authority and one or two employee directors, depending on the number of company employees. There are also often port users on the board, which can give rise to conflicts of interest.

The Department plans to deal with this political hot potato by curtailing the number of local authority representatives and worker directors to one each, and to cease the appointment of port users to boards.

A rather innovative proposal, for the Republic anyway, is the intention to advertise, inviting suitably qualified persons to put their names forward for consideration by the Minister in respect to vacancies arising during the coming year. The aim will be to maintain an up-to-date list of candidates with the skills mix to provide a balance of business, professional, organisational and planning/ environmental expertise to the board.

A major gap in the policy document is the absence of any reference to the fast-tracking of strategically important infrastructure projects. The lack of willingness by Government to proceed with the Critical Infrastructure Bill is to be regretted.

The policy statement is to be welcomed. It commences a process that is long overdue. The Minister and his officials seem to be committed to the implementation of the proposals. However, the Department needs to act fast, otherwise any delay will only reinforce the long-established scepticism of the port sector.

Raymond Burke is an independent transport consultant. He was the main author of the High Level Review on the Future of the State Commercial Ports as well as many other port policy documents for Government.