2026/07/29 by Nina Sylvanus
Business, Management and Accounting · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Global trade, sustainability, and social impact #Maritime Ports and Logistics #Water Governance and Infrastructure
paper · doi:10.1017/asr.2026.10291
crossref issued 2026/07/29 · crossref published 2026/07/29 · crossref published-online 2026/07/29 · openalex publication_date 2026/07/29 · crossref created 2026/07/29 · crossref deposited 2026/07/29 · openalex created_date 2026/07/30 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract This article examines the volatile relationship between corporate logistics and state sovereignty in Lomé’s transformation from colonial harbor to global transshipment hub. Focusing on concession contracts and vertically integrated shipping conglomerates, it argues that privatized container terminals do not simply erode state power but rearticulate it through enclave-like regimes of operational governance. Drawing on historical and ethnographic research, it shows how the port becomes a chokepoint where control over circulation is a key site of rent extraction, political negotiation, and labor contestation, as state and corporate actors continually enable, constrain, and renegotiate one another.