Regarding port management and operation, competitiveness and a more efficient management is required, therefore, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has been promoting a relaxation of restrictions and a new system from the mindset of private-sector initiative, introduction and efficiency implementation.

1. Lease of berth facility
Administrative estates for public works belonging to central and local government are prohibited to be leased and be set a private right to a particular person/company by National Property Law and Municipal Law. For efficient port management, however, a berth facility of administrative estates is admitted to be leased under a certain requirement since 2003 as a preferential measure in the special zone for structural reform based on the law.

2. Reduction of the restrictive period of landfill disposal
On the Public Water Body Reclamation Law, reclamation under the license must be permitted, by a licensing authority, if an alternative land use and/or ownership transfer is required, within the ten years after the reclamation having been completed. For activation of a coastal area by disposal of un-disposed and/or un-used landfill areas, however, the period is reduced to 5 years, under a certain requirement and authorization of the port management body as a preferential measure in the special zone for structural reform.
In addition, 1. and 2. have been expanded them throughout all of Japan as the system for the stipulation of Port and Harbor Law from October 2006 by the law amendment in 2006.

3. Assigned administrator system
By the revision of the municipal law in 2003, it has been able to let the assigned administrator manage the public facility based on the regulation, when the government permits the need for efficient achievement of purpose of setting the public facility. This system enables the assigned administrator of the port facility to exercise use the powers such as permissions of facility usage, collection of due and charge, cleaning and maintenance, but powers vested only to heads of local government by the regulation such as forcible charge collection and permission of facility usage for administrative estates for purposes other than original intent.

4. Privatization of Port Terminal Corporation
Regarding an assigned body corporation of management and operation for foreign-trade terminal constructed by former Foreign-trade Development Corporations, the requirement for the body corporation has been switched from incorporative foundation to joint-stock company, since October 2006, by the fully-fledged revision of dissolution for Foreign-trade Development Corporation and Operation Succession in 2006. Its current name is Management and Operation Law of Particular Foreign-trade Terminal. (The joint-stock company is defined so that the port management body has interest sharing over 50% of issued stock, evaluated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and appointed to each of the Tokyo port, Yokohama port, Osaka port and Kobe port.)
This article introduces the new movement of port management and operations, as many efforts are not only put in but also laws and systems are revised.