Competition in cargo-handling: some comments

This article offers some comments on a paper by R. O. Goss appearing in No. 1, Vol.9 of this journal. Goss outlined therein the activites of a small number of competing private sector cargo-handling companies suggesting than the prevalent inefficiencies and excessive costs associated with these firms may be linked to a lack of real competition. The present author, whilst conceding that increased competitiveness may be linked to a lack of real competition. The present author, whilst conceding that increased competitiveness may ameliorate this, argues that other factors-the organizational structure of the company and the market in which it must operate-may in fact work against the proper functioning of a competitive system, and that concentration may not only be inevitable but even desirable.