The trajectory of French decentralized ports towards corporatization

Mathilde Fernandes, Éric Foulquier () and Gaelle Gueguen Hallouet ()
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Mathilde Fernandes: AMURE - Aménagement des Usages des Ressources et des Espaces marins et littoraux - Centre de droit et d'économie de la mer - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - UBO EPE - Université de Brest - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Éric Foulquier: LETG - Littoral, Environnement, Télédétection, Géomatique UMR 6554 - UBO EPE - Université de Brest - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Nantes Univ - IGARUN - Institut de Géographie et d'Aménagement Régional de l'Université de Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Humanités - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université
Gaelle Gueguen Hallouet: AMURE - Aménagement des Usages des Ressources et des Espaces marins et littoraux - Centre de droit et d'économie de la mer - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - UBO EPE - Université de Brest - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: The French port system is divided into two different types of governance. The first revolves around state-owned ports, known as Grand Port Maritime (GPM). The second consists on decentralized ports, most of which are now owned by regions, following three successive waves of decentralization since the early 1980s. However, there is a wide variety of governance arrangements within these decentralized ports, as the state has often left it up to local authorities to decide how to manage them. Historically, these ports have long been entrusted to Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Since the last act of decentralization in 2015, the trend has been to break with this long-standing pattern. Several of these ports have adopted the corporatization model, with very different modalities from one another. This corporatization of decentralized ports raises questions about the French model of governance, as it highlights the ability of these small ports to innovate and demonstrate agility in the face of change.

Date: 2026-04-17
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05742994v1
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Published in Marine Chouquet; Nathan Gouin; Laurent Livolsi. Ports in the Polycrisis. Navigating Geopolitical, Ecological, and Institutional Challenges, Routledge, 2026, 9781041068808. ⟨10.4324/9781003637578-15⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05742994

DOI: 10.4324/9781003637578-15

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