As nodes in maritime transport, seaports have a significant impact on the economic, social and environmental development of countries at local, regional and national level. Today, issues related to the protection of the legal status of seaports are becoming a key element of maritime policy. In order to achieve efficient management and operation of seaports, countries are putting in place port governance structures with clear objectives. Seaport governance reflects interactions between the public and private sectors that influence the organisation of ports at different levels, from local to global.
It is a complex area, inextricably linked in different spatial and temporal combinations to historical, cultural and geographical phases and to different forms of political, economic and administrative organisation. The major seaport reforms of recent decades have called into question certain models of seaport organisation. The transformation of port governance models, including their evolution towards decentralisation and regionalisation policies, has extended the autonomy and responsibility of the managing authority and given it a wider role beyond the seaport itself.
Over the last forty years, the optimisation of seaport management has been an important agenda for many maritime countries. In order to adapt to the globalisation of production and distribution, countries have changed the seaport management models that were in place until then. The needs of individual countries and their ports have led to a number of different seaport management models based on the institute of port administration. In defining the legal status and governance of seaports, I discuss in more detail to the legal status and governance of the seaport in relation to the Port Authority, as most responsible port states have this institution in place. In doing so, I also evaluate the rare case of seaport governance that does not have a Port Authority in place. In general, a Port Authority is a separate state or quasi-state public entity. It is an independent legal entity, usually created by the legislator, to manage an area of special public interest, i.e. a port and its associated infrastructure. Since most models of the legal status and governance of seaports have the institute of a Port Authority as a core and integral element, I am devoting a more detailed discussion to this institute. Every seaport in the world is usually managed by a Port Authority. It is such a universal institution that most of the literature does not even mention cases where it is not present.
One of the most important functions of a Port Authority is governance, which broadly refers to a number of functions, namely management, organisation, concession, leasing, regulation, etc. These functions are usually carried out at the level of the seaport itself, the management of which, in most cases, falls under the remit of the Port Authority. In its 2007 Port Reform Handbook, the World Bank divided seaport governance into four basic models, namely the Service port, the Tool port, the Landlord port and the Fully Privatised Port.
An important aspect that is strongly linked to the management of seaports is the legal status of the entity managing the seaport. The theoretical research carried out so far in the context of European countries on the differences between the legal status of seaports (irrespective of their size), their control bodies and their placement in national legislation leads to the conclusion that a common pattern emerges in most European countries, which is manifested in the institution of an autonomous and independent Port Authority.
The entity managing the seaport area may take the form of a commercial company (e.g. a joint stock company, a limited liability company or another form of company), a state body or another legal entity governed by public law (e.g. a public agency, a public undertaking, etc.), which I will elaborate in more detail in my dissertation. The internal regulation of the port authority itself is a matter for the national legislator in accordance with the delegated powers and European legislation.
The only Slovenian sea port, Luka Koper, is managed under concession by the company LUKA KOPER, JSC (PORT OF KOPER, port and logistics system, joint stock company, hereinafter: Port of Koper). The Republic of Slovenia has a unique and distinctive regime in this area, since it has enabled the ownership transformation of the seaport operator into a joint stock company and has granted it a concession to carry out individual tasks related to the management of the port for a period of thirty-five years, without first setting up a Port Authority, as has been done by almost all the port states in the world. The Republic of Slovenia is thus one of the few countries, not only at European level but even at world level, which has not introduced the institution of a Port Authority. If a different form of governance were to be introduced for Slovenian ports, this could have a significant impact on the current governance structure and, consequently, on the regional economy more broadly.
In the twenty-first century, the role of Port Authority is changing but increasingly important. More and more Port Authorities are transferring management to private concessionaires in order to increase the efficiency of the seaport. This is where the key role of the Port Authority and the importance of well-conceived legislation comes into play, as this institution is able to adapt continuously to the changing economic situation and the technological environment, and makes an important contribution to the selection of a strategic partner or concessionaire capable of raising the technological level of the seaport itself and, above all, of diverting global trade flows favourably to new maritime corridors or routes, and is also able to guarantee the commitments it has made.
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