Assises Port du futur · 2026

Agoris analysis · updated October 2026

Key takeaways

• Les Assises Port du futur (the French ports of the future conference) is the annual gathering of the French and European port community: port authorities, service companies and operators, industrial firms, local authorities, urban planning agencies and researchers. The format is a two-day conference, with keynotes, panel discussions and an awards ceremony, without any commercial exhibition or stands.
• Next edition: the 16th Assises Port du futur, Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September 2026, from 9am to 5pm, at the Gare fluviale de Strasbourg, on the theme "Ports, (cross-)border spaces: challenges and dynamics of cooperation for a stronger Europe".
• Organiser: Cerema, a French state public body responsible for territorial planning and adaptation. The initiative was launched in 2011 by the DGITM, the French Directorate-General for Infrastructure, Transport and Mobility, together with Cerema. Official website: portdufutur.fr.
• Frequency: annual, over two days. The event has been itinerant since the decision to move it to the regions, taken in 2019: Lille (2019), Lorient (2022), Sète (2023), Dunkirk (2024), Le Havre (2025), Strasbourg (2026).
• Attendance: more than 300 participants and close to 40 speakers at the 14th edition (Dunkirk, 2024) according to the official proceedings; more than 200 participants at the 15th edition (Le Havre, 2025) according to Pôle Mer Méditerranée, an institutional partner of the initiative.
• The 2026 edition is hosted in partnership with the Port autonome de Strasbourg, which celebrates the centenary of its creation in 2026. The 10th edition of the Trophées de l'innovation portuaire is presented there on 23 September, with eight projects shortlisted.

Who takes part

Typical profile

The Assises are not a trade show: there are no stands, no aisles, no exhibitor catalogue. It is a sector-wide conference where people come to listen, debate and network. The audience set out by the organiser is that of French and European decision-makers from the port world: maritime and river port authorities, state services, local authorities and urban planning agencies, cargo-handling and ship-service companies, carriers and freight forwarders, industrial firms based in port-industrial zones, consultancies and research laboratories, and port-innovation start-ups.

The scope covers both the maritime and the river sectors. The 2026 edition places extra emphasis on this dimension, with a keynote devoted to inland waterways and a clear Rhine focus, Strasbourg being France's second-largest river port.

Speakers announced for 2026

The programme published by Cerema for the 16th edition announces four panel discussions and three keynotes. Confirmed speakers include Olaf Merk, head of the secretariat of the Transport Research Committee and head of the "Policy Analysis" unit at the OECD's International Transport Forum; Jean-Frédéric Laurent, general delegate of the Union des Ports de France; Lamia Kerdjoudj, secretary general of the Federation of European Private Port Companies and Terminals (FEPORT); Claire Merlin, managing director of the Port autonome de Strasbourg and chair of the Association française des ports intérieurs; Maurice Georges, chairman of the executive board of the Grand Port Maritime de Dunkerque; Cécile Avezard, managing director of Voies navigables de France; and Hester Duursema, secretary general of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, who opens the second day.

The cross-border dimension is carried by the presence of Lars Nennhaus, executive board member of Duisburger Hafen AG, and Dominique Mathern, France representative of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. The organiser notes that the programme is subject to change or addition.

Format and audience

The audience is measured in hundreds of participants, not thousands: more than 300 people in Dunkirk in 2024, more than 200 in Le Havre in 2025. The event's value lies in the density of the audience rather than its size, with a high proportion of port authority executives and representatives of the state and professional federations.

Two formats have been added over successive editions and now structure the day of 24 September 2026: an employment and training forum dedicated to port and maritime professions, held in the afternoon in the form of workshops and meetings, and a record of the discussions published afterwards as proceedings.

Events & community

2026 programme

The first day opens with an international keynote on the India-Middle East-Europe corridor (IMEC), followed by a panel discussion on European port strategies as the European Union develops its own port strategy, then a panel discussion on transcontinental freight networks. The afternoon features a forward-looking keynote on adapting ports to the requirements of military mobility in Europe, the Trophées de l'innovation session, and a river-sector keynote.

The second day opens with the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, then focuses on two panel discussions: climate change adaptation as a shared challenge for ports and cities, and the role of certifications, labels and standards in port attractiveness. The closing summary is delivered by a port and inland waterway expert, associate member of the Inspection générale de l'environnement et du développement durable.

Awards and accolades

The Trophées "Port du futur" have, since 2017, rewarded innovative projects that strengthen the performance, competitiveness and safety of ports. The 2026 edition is the tenth. Eight projects are shortlisted, across four categories: Infrastructure, Equipment, Digital, and Concept/Idea. The awards ceremony is supported by the Union des Ports de France.

The projects competing in 2026 illustrate the range covered: the R-PAS waste-heat network in Strasbourg, the Meltem® multifunction pontoon by One Concept Marine, the molluSCAN-eye port water biomonitoring system, the ECO-GUARD® decontamination solution by Acqua.Ecologie, the Zurvan Port scheduling system by Cervval, the Onetwin digital twin by Duoverse, an Artelia methodology for port support of floating offshore wind, and the GREEN BAY environmental certification carried by the port of Toulon-La Seyne.

The 2025 winners, unveiled in Le Havre, were Seacure Geocorail (Infrastructure), Bordeaux Technoports (Equipment), Générale de Manutention Portuaire with its "IMMERSIVE 360" digital twin (Digital) and, in Concept/Idea, Études et Inventions Luca Rossini for its "Micro turbines hydrauliques au niveau des écluses".

Community & networks

The initiative is backed by a stable network of institutional partners: the Cluster maritime français, the Fédération nationale des agences d'urbanisme (Fnau), the Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, the Pôle Mer Méditerranée and Ports de France, alongside state services. The Union des ports de France, the Cluster maritime français and the Fnau joined the founding partners as the event grew in scale.

Each edition is backed by a host port, which contributes its territory and its use cases: Haropa Port in 2025, Dunkerque-Port in 2024, the Port autonome de Strasbourg in 2026.

On the publishing side, the proceedings of the 15th edition were published in February 2026 as a special issue of the PCM journal devoted to French ports, which draws on the lessons of the panel discussions and announces the Strasbourg edition.

On site: what you need to know

The 2026 edition is held at the Gare fluviale of the Port autonome de Strasbourg, at the Bassin du Commerce, rue de la Minoterie in Strasbourg. For access and the surrounding area, see the venue page: Gare fluviale de Strasbourg. This is a new facility, brought into service in December 2025, designed to welcome Rhine river cruise ships rather than to host conferences all year round: its capacity is that of a gathering of a few hundred people, not an exhibition centre.

The two days run from 9am to 5pm on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September 2026, with registration opening from 8am. On 24 September, the programme continues into the afternoon until 5.30pm with the employment and training forum workshops.

A networking evening is held on 23 September from 5.15pm to 9.30pm aboard the boats Bohème and Monet, with a tour of the ports of Strasbourg and Kehl from 5.15pm to 7.15pm followed by a dinner on the quayside. The organiser states that it is open only to participants holding a dedicated ticket.

Registration is online, via the platform set up by the Port autonome de Strasbourg for its centenary, accessible from the portdufutur.fr website. No price list is published on the official website at the time of writing: the cost of the ticket, including the networking evening, should be requested from Cerema's Port du futur team.

Preparing your visit

For innovators and industry companies

• Entering the Trophées de l'innovation is the only route to on-stage visibility: there is no stand to rent. Selection earns a plenary presentation before all participants and a mention in the edition's proceedings.
• Plan ahead for the call for entries: the organiser has announced its intention to open the call for entries earlier to better prepare future editions. The competition opens several months before the event, via the dedicated page on the website.
• Aim for partnership rather than exhibition: the Assises' business model rests on partnerships with public and industrial players in the maritime sector, not on the sale of exhibition space.
• Use the employment and training forum if recruitment is the goal: it is the only slot in the programme designed for direct meetings, on the afternoon of the second day.

For the decision-maker

• Two full days are enough: the programme is linear, with no parallel sessions outside the employment and training forum, which avoids having to choose between tracks.
• Time your visit around the evening of 23 September if networking is the priority: the boat tour of the ports of Strasbourg and Kehl is the only on-the-ground moment of the edition, and the only long informal slot.
• Read the proceedings of previous editions before coming: they are published free of charge on the organiser's website and give the level of detail of the discussions, which helps in preparing questions.
• Place the Assises within the wider B2B landscape: they do not replace a trade show. For logistics and freight, the commercial event remains SITL; for the rail industry and multimodal transport, SIFER. The Assises bring the institutional and forward-looking perspective that these trade shows do not.

Policy & CSR initiatives

No CSR commitments page specific to the event is published on portdufutur.fr. The ecological transition is nonetheless omnipresent in the programme's content, with one panel discussion on climate change adaptation and another on port environmental certifications: this is the subject being discussed, not an organisational commitment by the event, and the two should not be confused.

At organiser level, Cerema signed the Charte du développement durable des établissements et entreprises publics (Sustainable Development Charter for Public Bodies and Enterprises) in October 2019, the starting point of its formal corporate social responsibility approach. An employer mobility plan was approved in 2024, and a new assessment of greenhouse gas emissions was launched in 2025, following the one carried out in 2022. The organisation's 2025-2028 strategic plan includes commitments on eco-responsibility, inclusion and quality of working life. Cerema's quality management system has also been ISO 9001 certified since November 2021, a certification renewed in November 2024.

No ISO 20121 certification specific to the Assises is publicly documented.

The host port provides the most tangible level. The Port autonome de Strasbourg has structured its CSR policy since 2017, steered by its executive committee, around two priority areas: the energy transition and biodiversity protection. Its CLES industrial ecology initiative, for Coopérations locales et environnementales en synergies (Local Environmental Cooperations in Synergy), was launched in 2013; the R-PAS heat network has recovered waste heat from industrial firms there since 2021. The port manages more than 2,000 trees and 200 hectares of water basins, applies a zero-pesticide policy, and has placed 31% of its green spaces under differentiated management.

The venue itself was designed with this approach in mind: the river station, brought into service in December 2025 for 5.5 million euros excluding tax, combines low-carbon concrete, photovoltaic canopies that partly power the quayside electrical charging points, refuelling and waste-collection services for boats, rainwater management and planted areas.

How the event has evolved

Trajectory analysis

The event grew out of a public-policy mandate. Following the Grenelle de l'environnement launched in 2007 and the Grenelle 1 law adopted in 2009, the DGITM had to translate its port-related policy orientations into an action programme. The Centre d'études techniques maritimes et fluviales (Cetmef), now part of Cerema, produced a first report on the "port marchand du futur" (merchant port of the future) in June 2010. As that approach proved too narrow, the idea of an annual gathering bringing together all stakeholders took hold: the first edition was held in June 2011.

Two turning points shaped what followed. The creation of the Trophée de l'innovation portuaire in 2017 gave the event a concrete showcase and a pool of start-ups and SMEs, whereas the earliest editions had been mainly institutional. The decision, taken in 2019, to relocate the Assises to the regions changed their nature: after a Paris-based cycle at the FNTP and the UIC-P, the event became itinerant and is now built around a host port, whose use cases it draws on. Lille in 2019, Lorient in 2022, Sète in 2023, Dunkirk in 2024, Le Havre in 2025, Strasbourg in 2026: maritime and river locations alternate, and the Strasbourg edition is the first in a long time to be hosted by an inland port.

Attendance remains modest and fluctuating, between 200 and just over 300 participants depending on the edition and the accessibility of the host territory. The organiser acknowledges this and sets out explicit priorities for the coming years: professionalising the organisation and its media coverage, stabilising the economic model through partnerships with public and industrial players, broadening the community to territorial-authority ports and young professionals, and strengthening the international dimension by welcoming foreign delegations. The 2026 edition, centred on cross-border cooperation and built around the centenary of the Port autonome de Strasbourg, is the first application of this latest orientation.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (portdufutur.fr).