The Analysis of the Port Management Models along Danube River.

The main goal of the current paper is to analysis different business strategies applied by the inland cargo ports in the Danube Region, how efficiently they are implemented, related to the port management models employed all along the river. The study was conduct during Daphne Project implementation. In order to ensure a balanced development of the Danube port sector and enable it to become a key element in the EU transport network, a clear analysis needs to be performed first with regard to the status-quo. This activity will deal with this topic by first assessing the current practices in the Danube region on the port management and operation models applied and providing for a SWOT analysis thereof. In order to present the port management models of European ports, the key definitions of port operation should be presented as follows. Port development is seen as a catalyst to stimulate economic activity and create employment. Finally, Daphne Project aims to provide a comprehensive package of the issues to be approached jointly in order to help compensate the unbalanced development level between the Upper Danube ports and the other river sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]