Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Author and Professor Department of Maritime Business Administration Texas A&M – Galveston
ean-Paul Rodrigue is Professor at the Department of Maritime Business Administration at Texas A&M University – Galveston. He received a Ph.D. in Transport Geography from the Université de Montréal (1994).
Dr. Rodrigue sits on the international editorial board of the Journal of Transport Geography, Transport Reviews, the Journal of Shipping and Trade, and the Cahiers Scientifiques du Transport. He is a board member of the University Transportation Research Center, Region II of the City University of New York, and is a lead member of the PortEconomics.eu initiative as well as of the International Association of Maritime Economists. Dr. Rodrigue was a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Manufacturing (2011-2016). In 2013, the US Secretary of Transportation appointed Dr. Rodrigue to sit on the Advisory Board of the US Merchant Marine Academy, a position he held until 2018. He is also the New York team leader for the MetroFreight project about city logistics. He regularly performs advisory and consulting assignments for international organizations and corporations and is interviewed by the media over transportation-related matters.
Dr. Rodrigue has authored 7 books, 32 book chapters, more than 60 peer-reviewed papers, numerous reports, and delivered more than 175 conferences and seminar presentations, mostly at the international level. He ranks among the top 2% most cited scholars in the world and among the top 100 in the field of transport and logistics (67 as of 2023). His paper about port regionalization became one of the world’s most cited works in maritime transportation. His book about the global economic space, has been published by Les Presses de l’Universté du Québec and won the 2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers award (Prix du livre d’affaire) for the best French business-related book published in North America. His high-impact textbook, The Geography of Transport Systems (Online Version), was first published by Routledge in July 2006 and is now in its fifth edition. His co-authored textbook, Port Economics, Management and Policy, was published in January 2022. He is also co-editor of the Sage Handbook of Transport Studies. In 2019, he was the recipient of the Edward L. Ullman Award for outstanding contribution to the field of transport geography by the American Association of Geographers. In 2022, Dr. Rodrigue was appointed a Distinguished Fellow at the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study / Department of Maritime Administration, Texas A&M University.
Session
The Migration and Relocation of Port Terminals have emerged as defining spatial transformations in the evolution of ports
over the past few decades. Relocation refers to the complete transfer of operations from an existing terminal to a new site, with the
original facility being closed once the move is finalized. Migration, by contrast, involves the addition of a new terminal site while the
existing facility continues to operate.
Migration and relocation can have far-reaching implications for governance, as existing port authorities may lack jurisdiction over
newly developed sites. In such cases, institutional restructuring or the creation of new governance frameworks may be required to
manage the expanded geography of port operations.
Although numerous factors drive port terminal migration – such as the pursuit of additional space, improved infrastructure, or access
to deepwater facilities (see figure) – there remain several significant impediments that can hinder or slow down these spatial
transformations.