Contents: Fernand Traen: Preface - Léonce Bekemans: Acknowledgements - Léonce Bekemans/Sharon Beckwith: Introduction - A Policy Debate: Europe's Role in Port Development: Neil Kinnock: Address - Henning Voscherau: Address - Reflections and Perspectives: André Vigarie: European Ports' Heritage: Reflections and Perspectives - Hans Jeppesen: The Revitalization of the Heritage of Northern Europe: the North Sea and the Baltic Sea - Ulf Olsson: Factors of Change. Regional Trade in Pre-Industrial Northern Europe - Eduardo Mira: Some Prospects for the Civic Heritage of Europe: The North/South Connection or a Tale of Two Cities - Albert d'Haenens: Re-establishing Links with the Hanseatic Universe - Ann Jonsson: Hanseatic Seaports in the Baltic Sea: Recent Efforts of Co-opertion in the Baltic-Nordic Region - Ferdinand Suykens: The Future of European Ports - Jürgen Erdmenger: Seaports in the Trans-European Transport Network - Monique Pariat: Legal and Commercial Aspects of Fisheries Policy - The Dynamics of Seaport Development: Tor Wergeland: Global Changes in Production and Trade due to Increasing Regionalization - Yehuda Hayuth: Container Traffic in Ocean Shipping Policy - Bernard Teillet: Intermodal Traffic in International Sea Trade - I.B.F. Kormoss: Geo-political Changes in Sea Traffic - Dirk K. Behrendt: The Vitality of the Hanseatic City: The Port of Hamburg - Past Challenges and Future Prospects - Port Services in a Changing Legal and Regulatory Framework: Gustaaf De Monie: Privatization of Port Structures - Brian J. Thomas: Deregulation in European Seaports - Ernst G. Frankel: Liberalization and Privatization of Shipping and Port Services - Richard Goss: The Development of Ports: the Views of the Consumers - Eric Van Hooydonk: The Legal Aspects of the Hanseatic Tradition - An Illustration: The Port of Zeebrugge: Pierre Kerckaert: The Development of Bruges Seaport: a Case Study - Norbert Vanhove: Impact of the Port of Bruges-Zeebrugge on Employment - Léonce Bekemans/Sharon Beckwith: Conclusion.

As nodes within complex networks European seaports both shape and are shaped by evolving patterns of trade and communication. The book aims to provide an overall view of the influence of, amongst others, economic, regulatory, and technological factors on the present and future development of ports in a historical context. It achieves this by presenting the varied yet often converging points of view of academics from various backgrounds, maritime experts, and decision-makers from the ports industry.
Modern trends, such as containerization, intermodalism, changing product markets and business configurations, which are analyzed in depth, can perhaps be better understood alongside the study of comparable historical developments. Furthermore, the common heritage of Europe's city-ports is proposed as a building block not only for the ports' future but also for further regional integration. The book covers the main issues underlying the policy debate concerning the role of local, regional, national and supranational government in the future of European seaports.