Port governance and policy changes in Belgium 2006-2016: A comprehensive assessment of process and impact

摘要

In most seaports around the world, port management is in the hands of a port authority, a body which has the statutory responsibility to manage a port's water and land-side domain (De Monie, 2004). Port management bodies differ, inter alia, in terms of ownership, form, objectives, responsibilities and levels of autonomy. This diversity in turn depends on how governments view the role of ports in the first place (Suykens & Van de Voorde, 1998). The role and features of port authorities have changed considerably over time, due to technological evolution, waves of privatisation and liberalisation and socio-economic factors. Port authorities became topical subjects in port economics research in the early 1990s and port governance has now become a widely professed field of study (Pallis, Vitsounis, De Langen, & Notteboom, 2011; Brooks & Pallis, 2012).