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|b The global economic system has recorded a wide range of factors that have helped to globalization, the most important of them being the industrial-technological revolution. Globalization has a significant impact on the transportation sector in general, particularly the maritime transport industry. The steady growth of seaborne trade over the last two decades has resulted in an increase in container ships, container ports, and terminals. Ports are regarded as the foundation of international trade. According to (Unctade, 2021), seaports handle approximately 90% of global trade. So, ports and container terminals are important factors in international trade, and the competitiveness of container ports has been a major issue over the last decade. The Mediterranean has become one of the leading successful trading routes in the world, driven by a transport network linking coastal cities with their hinterland. The Mediterranean Sea recorded rising number of ports and container terminals that sought to promote their growth rates and market share. They introduced further high-quality services to increase their competitive advantage, enabling the ports to keep their customer's loyalty and attract new shipping lines. Being competitive at the international standard requires a certain number of conditions to be fulfilled. Understanding port competitiveness can help port operators, shipping agents, and shipping lines develop strategies to gain more share from the market. After reviewing the literature studies concerned with evaluating the ports' competitiveness according to selected criteria and proving their effectiveness in measuring the ports' competitiveness in these literature studies, the research gathered these criteria and classified them under four determinates to identify the drivers of port competitiveness and their measurement using the Porter's Diamond Model.
|b Egypt has a lot of seaports located on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea; specifically, the research shows the current situation of competitiveness container ports or terminals in Egypt compared with others in the eastern Mediterranean region which include 14 container terminals/ports in 6 countries, in the period from 2004 to 2019. The study also highlighted the existence of ten determinants of port competitiveness that may increase or undermine the competitiveness of container ports or terminals in Egypt. Thus, strategies should focus on enhancing competitiveness. Four seem to be external criteria, and six seem internal criteria. The study also divides the competitors of Egyptian ports into three categories competitors from first degree, competitors from the second degree, and competitors from the third degree. The research reaches to that the situation of the Egyptian ports gets worse with competitors from the first category due to the enormous competition from the advantages of good ports/terminals' infra/superstructure, their strong growth rates, and the threat from their continuous development and modernization. There is also, fierce competition from ports in the second category because any increase in the market share of any port in this market only means a shortage from the market share of another port. Finally, no ports compete with the Egyptian ports from a third degree in the short and medium-term except if they undergo a radical development and modernization. The research suggests some recommendations to Egyptian ports/terminals to achieve an advanced competitiveness position in this container market, such as establishing a new competitive and stable pricing for port services, maintaining the loyalty and affiliation of existing customers, achieving their satisfaction, and attracting new customers. It also suggests some attractive policies to encourage the local and foreign investments towards developing ports/terminals' infrastructure and building new projects and developing the port's hinterland.
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