Port governance: Main trends

Maritime transport faces a new stage of liberalisation and deregulation, aimed at establishing a network of delivery and storage of both products and services. Shipping lines and port operators are increasingly focused on business and geographically centralised. This greater concentration coincides with a new redefinition of port competences. These new functions and the higher involvement in logistics and integration with other means of transport contributes to modify territorial economies, as well as to establish new trends as regards governance and public/private share in ports.