France Launches G7 Ports Network to Fight Drug Trafficking Through the World’s Biggest Harbours

France has launched a new international network of 14 major ports to fight drug trafficking by sea. The G7-backed alliance aims to stop criminal gangs from hiding illegal drugs inside the millions of shipping containers that pass through the world’s harbours every year.

The initiative, called the G7+ Ports Network to Combat Drug Trafficking, was formally launched on Monday, 9 November 2026, during a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) in Paris. It brings together the world’s richest countries, two major partner nations, and the international bodies that police shipping and customs.

For ordinary people, the move matters because most of the cocaine and other illegal drugs that reach Europe and North America arrive by ship, hidden among legal cargo. If the network works as planned, it could make it much harder — and riskier — for traffickers to use the world’s busiest ports.

What Is the G7+ Ports Network?

The network links 14 of the world’s main ports, their customs services, and international organisations in a single system for sharing intelligence and coordinating action against drug smuggling.

The members are the seven G7 countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — plus Brazil and South Korea. Major international ports are also taking part, alongside Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the World Customs Organization.

France formally launched the initiative during the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris on 9–10 November. The network’s first working meeting is being held in Marseille, France’s biggest port on the Mediterranean Sea.

“Through this international dimension, we can bolster the substantial efforts already being led by the Ministry of the Interior — and other relevant ministries — to tackle a problem that inflicts such deep harm upon our society,” France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said at a press conference in Paris.

The idea is simple: ports that talk to each other can spot suspicious cargo much earlier. A container that looks odd in Brazil, for example, can be flagged before it ever reaches Europe.

Why Ports? Because That Is Where the Drugs Are

The G7 leaders agreed to create the network at their summit in Évian, France, in June 2026. In their joint declaration on 17 June, the leaders said maritime transport is “the primary vector for global drug and precursor chemical trafficking” — in plain words, ships are the main way illegal drugs and the chemicals used to make them travel around the world.

They ordered their ministers to set up the network by November 2026. The launch in Paris met that deadline.

France’s own figures show why the government is pushing the issue so hard. According to Barrot, 70% of the drugs that enter France arrive through its ports. That is a striking number: for every ten drug shipments seized or tracked into the country, seven come in by sea.

The French government also says it handled 20 requests to board vessels suspected of carrying drugs on the high seas in 2025. Those operations led to seizures of nearly 40 metric tons of narcotics — almost entirely cocaine. A metric ton is 1,000 kilograms, so 40 tons is roughly the weight of 27 average cars.

The problem is not limited to France. Europe’s biggest container ports — including Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium, Hamburg in Germany and Algeciras in Spain — have all reported record cocaine seizures in recent years. Criminal gangs hide drugs inside containers of fruit, coffee, wood and other legal goods, and with tens of millions of containers moving through ports every year, customs officers can physically check only a small share of them.

How Will the Network Work?

The network aims to improve cooperation against drug trafficking through major maritime hubs by targeting the entire supply chain — from the countries where drugs are produced, through the countries they pass through, to the markets where they are sold.

According to the French government, the network will:

• Share intelligence faster. Ports and customs authorities will exchange information about suspicious ships, routes and containers in real time, instead of working in isolation.
• Improve cooperation between ports and customs. Officers in different countries will work together on joint operations, rather than each country acting alone.
• Identify trafficking routes. By pooling data, the network should be able to map the routes gangs use and spot when they change tactics.
• Detect rigged containers better. The goal is to find the containers criminal groups use, using shared data and new technology.
• Coordinate agencies. Maritime, customs and law-enforcement agencies will work from the same picture, so a warning raised in one country can trigger action in another.

Barrot told French media ahead of the launch that the network would use tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) to track cargoes and to connect the ports better. In simple terms, computer systems would scan shipping data for patterns — unusual routes, odd paperwork, containers that change hands too often — and flag the riskiest ones for inspection.

The network will also draw on international rules that already exist, including the IMO’s International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, a global set of security standards for ships and ports.

It will work alongside the European Ports Alliance, a European Union initiative launched in Antwerp on 24 January 2024, which brings together 16 container ports, including Rotterdam, Hamburg, Algeciras and Marseille.

One important detail is still missing: the French government has not publicly named the 14 ports in the network, and it has not explained exactly what data they will share or how the AI tools will work. Those details are likely to emerge as the network holds its first meetings.

France’s Own Crackdown So Far

The ports network is the latest step in a wider French campaign against drug trafficking that has picked up speed over the past year.

According to a French government document cited by Reuters, France has signed more than 20 bilateral cooperation agreements on narcotics trafficking since late 2025 — deals with other countries to share information, run joint operations and hand over suspects.

France has also increased its specialised anti-drug personnel in Latin America and the Caribbean — the region where most of the world’s cocaine is produced — by more than 30% over the past year. More officers on the ground in source countries means more chances to stop shipments before they are loaded onto ships.

Cooperation with countries in North Africa and the Middle East led to the extradition of more than 20 people in 2025 — suspects handed over to face charges in another country.

The ports network fits into this pattern: France is trying to fight the drug trade at every stage, from the farms and labs where drugs are made, to the ships that carry them, to the ports where they arrive.

What Happens Next?

The network’s first meeting in Marseille will set the practical agenda: which ports take part, what information they share, and how the system will run day to day.

The G7 leaders also ordered their ministers to produce, by November 2026, a full action plan against the way drug trafficking networks infiltrate legitimate public and private institutions — in other words, how gangs corrupt port workers, customs officers and shipping companies. That plan is due around the same time as the network’s launch.

The G7 leaders’ declaration also called for an inventory of G7 initiatives and best practices against drug and precursor chemical trafficking in ports — a shared list of what works, so countries can copy each other’s most successful methods.

The real test will come in the months ahead. Sharing intelligence sounds simple, but it means different countries’ police, customs and port authorities trusting each other with sensitive information, using compatible computer systems, and acting quickly when a warning comes in. If the 14 ports can do that, traffickers will find it harder to slip containers past inspectors. If the network stays mostly on paper, little will change.

There is also a wider backdrop. The G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris, where the network was launched, also covered the war in Ukraine, the Middle East and the impact of the US midterm elections on American foreign policy. The ministers’ gathering had been moved from Marseille to Paris at short notice for security reasons, after weeks of protests across France. Against that busy agenda, the ports network was one of the few concrete new initiatives to emerge.

Why It Matters for Ordinary People

Drug trafficking may seem like a distant problem, but its effects reach everyday life in several ways.

First, drugs that arrive through ports end up on streets in Europe, North America and beyond, fuelling addiction, overdoses and the violence that comes with the illegal drug trade.

Second, the criminal gangs behind the trade do not only smuggle drugs. The same routes, the same corrupt contacts and the same hidden containers can be used for smuggling weapons, people and other illegal goods.

Third, the trade corrupts. When gangs can bribe a port worker or a customs officer, they weaken the institutions everyone relies on — and the cost of that corruption is paid by honest businesses and taxpayers.

Finally, there is a simple fairness point. Ports handle the goods the whole world depends on: food, medicine, fuel, clothes, electronics. If a small number of criminal groups can exploit that system, they profit from infrastructure that everyone else pays to keep safe.

The G7+ Ports Network will not end drug trafficking on its own. But by linking the world’s biggest ports in a single intelligence-sharing system, it attacks the trade at its weakest point — the moment a suspicious container can be spotted, checked and seized before its contents reach the street.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the G7+ Ports Network?

It is a new international network of 14 major ports, launched by France on 9 November 2026 with the backing of the G7 countries. Its aim is to fight drug trafficking through the world’s seaports by sharing intelligence and coordinating action between ports, customs services and law-enforcement agencies.

Which countries are involved?

The G7 members — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — plus Brazil and South Korea. International bodies taking part include Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Maritime Organization and the World Customs Organization.

Why focus on ports?

Because ships are the main way illegal drugs travel around the world. The G7 leaders said in June 2026 that maritime transport is the primary route for global drug trafficking. France says 70% of the drugs entering the country arrive through its ports.

How much drugs do ships carry?

France alone seized nearly 40 metric tons of narcotics — almost all of it cocaine — from boardings of suspect vessels on the high seas in 2025. That came from just 20 boarding operations.

Will artificial intelligence be used?

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the network would use AI tools to track cargoes and connect ports better. The exact details have not been published yet.

Which 14 ports are in the network?

The French government has not publicly named them. The network’s first meeting is being held in Marseille, and the European Ports Alliance — a related EU initiative — includes Rotterdam, Hamburg, Algeciras and Marseille among its 16 ports.

What happens next?

The network’s first working meeting in Marseille will decide the practical details: what data is shared, how warnings are passed between ports, and how joint operations will run. G7 ministers are also due to publish a wider action plan against the infiltration of public and private institutions by drug trafficking networks.

Conclusion

The launch of the G7+ Ports Network is a practical response to a problem that has outgrown any single country’s ability to solve it. Drugs move across oceans in containers that look identical to millions of legal ones, and only countries working together can hope to pick out the dangerous cargo.

France’s timing is deliberate: the network was promised by G7 leaders in June and delivered by the November deadline, with a first meeting in Marseille and a wider action plan due at the same time. The early numbers — nearly 40 tons of cocaine seized from high-seas boardings in 2025, more than 20 new cooperation agreements, and a 30% increase in anti-drug staff in Latin America and the Caribbean — suggest the political will is real.

Whether the network makes a lasting difference will depend on what happens after the launch: whether the 14 ports actually share their data, whether the AI tools work as promised, and whether traffickers find new routes faster than the network can close the old ones. For now, the world’s biggest ports have agreed to fight the drug trade together — and that, at least, is a start.

Sources

• Reuters, “France launches G7+ ports alliance to target global narcotics routes”, 9 November 2026: https://www.reuters.com/world/france-launches-g7-ports-alliance-target-global-narcotics-routes-2026-11-09/
• gCaptain, “G7 Launches Global Port Security Network to Combat Drug Trafficking”, 9 November 2026: https://gcaptain.com/g7-launches-global-port-security-network-to-combat-drug-trafficking/
• Ports Europe, “G7+ ports network against drug trafficking to launch in Marseille with 14 ports”, 9 November 2026: https://www.portseurope.com/g7-ports-network-against-drug-trafficking-to-launch-in-marseille-with-14-ports/
• France Diplomatie, “G7 leaders’ declaration on the fight against drug trafficking”, 17 June 2026: https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/presse-et-ressources/decouvrir-et-informer/actualites/declaration-des-chefs-d-etat-et-de-gouvernement-sur-la-lutte-contre-le-trafic-de-drogues

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.