216 Int. J. Shipping and Transport Logistics, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2009 Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. A note on productivity change in French and Italian seaports Jean-Pascal Guironnet* CREUSET-CNRS, University of Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, 6 rue Basse des Rives, F-42023, Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France E-mail: jean.pascal.guironnet@univ-st-etienne.fr *Corresponding author Nicolas Peypoch and Bernardin Solonandrasana GEREM, IAE, Université de Perpignan, 52 avenue Paul Alduy, F-66860, Perpignan, France E-mail: peypoch@univ-perp.fr E-mail: solo@univ-perp.fr Abstract: This paper proposes a framework for benchmarking French and Italian seaports and the rationalisation of their operational activities. The analysis is based on the Luenberger productivity indicator. The main benefit of our method is to allow for both input contraction and output expansion, in determining relative efficiencies and productivity changes. Benchmarks are provided for improving the operations of those seaports, which perform worse than others. Several interesting and useful managerial insights and implications arise from the study. Following this approach, the benchmarking of multi-country seaports gives a different picture than the one which is obtained from a single country. Keywords: Italian and French seaports; Luenberger productivity indicator. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Guironnet, J-P., Peypoch, N. and Solonandrasana, B. (2009) ‘A note on productivity change in French and Italian seaports’, Int. J. Shipping and Transport Logistics, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp.216–226. Biographical notes: Jean-Pascal Guironnet currently holds a Post-doctoral position in Economic Department, CREUSET, University of Saint-Etienne. He received his PhD in Economics from Montpellier 1 University. His research interests are in innovation, industrial clustering, labour market and optimisation. He has written some articles published in Economic Modelling, Economics Bulletin and Historical Social Research, and other journals. Nicolas Peypoch is an Assistant Professor at the University of Perpignan Via Domitia. His research interests are in production frontier theory and its applications as transport. He has published some papers in journals like Journal of Economics, European Journal of Operational Research, Energy Economics, and other journals.