ABSTRACT
The supply of port services has undergone deep structural changes in the past decade. The most notable being the sharp increase in private participation in container ports worldwide following general waves of deregulation of national port sectors. This has led in turn to the emergence of powerful transnational corporations (TNC) in the container port industry (Olivier and Slack 2006). Firms such as Hutchison Port Holdings, PSA International and APM Terminals have built impressive international portfolios, owning/operating container facilities across various continents. Yet, little remains known of their internationalisation strategies, in particular the role of micromanagerial responses to technological advances in container terminal operations. Moreover, information technology (IT) is a sine qua non condition for successful supply chain management (SCM) as has been mentioned in Chapters 2 and 3, and as these firms increasingly make their way into SCM, it becomes essential to better understand their current engagement with various IT tools.
