PIRALAD Cocaine ports - Cocaine trafficking to france: investigation into the value chain from the ports of le havre and rotterdam

THE PROJECT

How is a growing volume of cocaine smuggled into Europe via seaports? How do criminal groups organise this illegal traffic? These are some of the questions addressed by this research project, funded for 2 years (January 2024 - December 2025) by the French Interministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Addictive Behaviours (MILDECA).

Project objectives

The volume of cocaine circulating on the European market has grown steadily over the last decade, with amounts seized in the EU and in France increasing 3 to 4 fold. This increase not only has serious consequences for public health but could also exacerbate drug-related violence. The vast majority of cocaine reaching the European market is smuggled in cargo ships entering European seaports.

This project aims to improve the knowledge of cocaine trafficking through seaports, by focusing on two case studies: 1) the port of Le Havre (largest seaport in France in terms of container traffic, it also ranked first in 2022 for amounts of cocaine seized) and 2) the port of Rotterdam (the Netherlands; the largest seaport in Europe by far). It investigates the modus operandi of the criminal groups that move cocaine through each of these ports and the characteristics of ports that make them vulnerable to cocaine trafficking. The situation in the ports of Le Havre and Rotterdam is analysed in the light of the overall value chain of cocaine arriving and being consumed in France (studied by Gabriel Feltran). This comparative perspective will allow us to draw lessons from best practices for future policy. 

Our team

Gabriel Feltran, CNRS Research Professor, Sciences Po, CEE (Principal Investigator)

Tommaso Vitale, Associate Professor, Sciences Po, CEE (Principal Investigator)

Postdoctoral Researcher (ongoing recruitment)

Victor Simoni, Research Assistant (CNRS traineeship)

Partners

The project is being carried out in partnership with MILDECA and RAND Europe and also benefits from the contributions of expert advisors from the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), Ghent University (Belgium) and the Danish Institute for International Studies.