Modern port is a vital important fundamental facility leading a country or region joining economic globalization and maintaining the leadership in international competition. Due to the mutual dependence and promotion between port and trade, finance, manufacturing, ports have always been treated as the growing point of regional economics, the basis and leading industry of national economic development. important support of national economic regular operation and people's normal life. which also play an important role in econmic and social development.
The Yangtze River Delta ports Group is the most densely distributed and largest cargo throughput port of the biggest five ports group in current domestic coastal port groups. This port group's operation and development is extremely important for our country's economic and social development. and country security, especially for Yangtze River Delta. However, during recent years due to regional protectionism and individual development status. each port considers their own benefit when developing ports which causes disorderly competition, blind expansion of scale, driving down service prices. investment waste and inefficient operation.
From the current situation, the internal disorder among ports mainly expresses in the following points: the first one is the ports' repeated construction. Ports in some region develop blindly, construct too densely, economic hinterland overlap, ports' function similar. what's more, some general bulk cargos are obviously excessive and low-level repeated construction situation is serious, especially the medium-small sized ports' scale expansion, which causes the capabillity excessive, waste, loss and will bring health security problem. the second one is port position is not clear. some effevtive organization should be founded to plan the function and position for each port in order to avoid the difference between regional and overall environment. All the ports in the same ports group can't form into mutual complementary advantages and rational distribution in hardware facilities as new route's planning, container port construction, and software environment as information sharing, experience reference because of different economic benefit, which will lead to the whole competitiveness of the ports group
the third one is the disordered competition is becoming serious. The regional protectionism of ports causes unhealthy cutting down prices, gaining little return from large investment, obtaining decreasing economic benefit for resource competition, which hampers the port enterprises' development. So it has important theory and practical meaning to study the ports' coordinate development and governance mechanism.
In order to work out the specific co-petition strategy for the three ports in Yangtze River delta: Shanghai port, Ningbo-Zhoushan and Suzhou ports. the paper first analyzed the current situation of the three ports, and then it spread out the superiority and inferiority of the three ports using SWOT analysis methodology, Finally it suggested that the three ports should carry out their
co-opetiton strategy in some aspects, such as establishing the port association of Yangtze River delta and strengthening cooperation over feeder services among three ports.