Operational management

Management contracts of major transport facilities such as a port or airport may be useful when local manpower or expertise in running the facility is limited or when inaugurating a new operation. Many airport and port facilities in the region (for example, Delhi Airport Cargo Terminal; Vientiane Airport Terminal; The New Container Terminal in Chittagong, Bangladesh) are managed and operated by the private sector operators. Management contracts are also quite common in the transport sector for providing some of the non-transport elements of transport operations such as the ticketing system of public transport and reservation systems. Operational management of urban transport services can also be contracted out to the private sector.

In the simplest type of contract, the private operator is paid a fixed fee for performing managerial tasks. More complex contracts may offer greater incentives for efficiency improvement by defining performance targets and the fee is based in part on their fulfilment.