The economies of scale of the maritime transport industry is creating a diverse set of long term problems. The infrastructure costs are rising, employment rates are declining and the local capture of the created value added is low. Therefore, the OECD called to re-establish the relations between port and city to achieve a more resilient and competitive port city complex. However, before these re-establishments can be achieved, the port city has to be theoretically redefined taking into account the four different port city interfaces: economic, social-cultural, institutional and spatial. In this paper a conceptual model and methodological framework is constructed to understand the port city assemblage. Based on these, part three examine the economic interface of the Belgian port city of Ghent, an atypical ARA port with minor transport activities and a high share of value added by industrial activitie