Who Owns the Gateways? A Geoeconomic Perspective on Diverse Ownership in Landlord Ports

In recent years, concern over Chinese influence dominated public debate regarding foreign involvement in European ports. China’s state-led economy, combined with its geopolitical aspirations, cast doubts over whether commercial and strategic objectives can be separated in the context of Chinese investments in such strategic infrastructure. This paper uses a case study of the Port of Antwerp Bruges (PoAB), one of Europe’s major seaports, to argue that (1) the landlord model of port governance, entailing operational privatisation, creates geoeconomic vulnerabilities involving a variety of foreign entities beyond China, (2) that local (Belgian) and regional (EU) actors remain prevalent in the PoAB, indicating resilience to extensive foreign involvement, and (3) that foreign involvement is not uniform but concentrated in strategically relevant sectors.