Cooperation strategies for the networking of European inland and seaports

The links between river and sea ports are indeed many and varied in scope and intensity. Inter-port relations, some of which have been underway for several years, are now enjoying a marked revival. They highlight the emergence of a new scale of governance. The question of the appropriate scale for public action is also increasingly raised by the reduction in ports' financial resources (pooling of services) and land resources (land relays in dry ports), the complexity and scale of projects (energy transition), and the dematerialization of document flows (shared IT network, faster customs clearance and flow management through Cargo Community Systems), etc. These developments are accompanied by a review of the ways in which existing entities can cooperate, right up to the point of merging. An analysis of the aims and mechanisms of cooperative alliances within and between ports provides a better understanding of the territorial dynamics involved in the evolution of trade.

The very notion of port refers to distinct yet complementary realities. First and foremost, it's a place equipped to handle goods. This can only work with the operators present (the port community), who rely on the infrastructure and coordinate their efforts to offer the most attractive service possible to shippers. They maintain links with the players active in the port, but also with external operators. At the same time, there is the port authority (the Port), i.e. the body, public or private, in charge of infrastructure management to the detriment of tooling, a function that is becoming increasingly important with the affirmation of the Land Lord port model. Our analysis will focus primarily on this last category, the port authorities.

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