This paper analyzes the institutional and regulatory structures emerging from port privatization during the 90s in Argentina. The study departs from main sector transformations taking place at global scale and is based on the conceptual framework that sustains new institutional forms replacing former national government role. This new port institution shares power between public and private actors. How does it function? In what sense this new institution influences on local governance conditions? Departing from these central questions, this article focuses in Bahia Blanca and Rosario ports experiences, analyzing some consequences emerging from an institutional reform modeled by private capital valorization and mediated by a public power shared between two territorial levels (province-municipality). New questions posited from this analysis point a review of the idea of port as a propulsive force of local economic development. These main reflections are discussed revisiting the nature of city-port links and its influence on local economy taking place since reform. Este artículo examina la estructura institucional-regulatoria resultante de la privatización portuaria efectuada en Argentina durante los años noventa, en el marco de las transformaciones sectoriales a escala mundial y del andamiaje conceptual que sostiene nuevos formatos institucionales para reemplazar el rol antes desempeñado por el Estado nacional. ¿Cómo funciona la nueva institución portuaria, con parcelas de poder compartidas entre el sector público y los segmentos privados involucrados en la actividad? ¿En qué medida esta institucionalidad ha operado sobre las condiciones de governance local? Desde estos interrogantes centrales, el artículo se focaliza en las experiencias de los puertos de Bahía Blanca y Rosario, analizando las implicancias de una reconfiguración institucional modelada por la valorización del capital privado y mediada por el ejercicio de un poder público compartido entre dos niveles territoriales (provincia-municipio). De aquí se infieren temas que replantean la visión del puerto como fuerza propulsora del desarrollo económico territorial, y que se discuten revisando la naturaleza de los vínculos ciudad-puerto y los alcances de su proyección en la economía local desde la reforma. This paper analyzes the institutional and regulatory structures emerging from port privatization during the 90s in Argentina. The study departs from main sector transformations taking place at global scale and is based on the conceptual framework that sustains new institutional forms replacing former national government role. This new port institution shares power between public and private actors. How does it function? In what sense this new institution influences on local governance conditions? Departing from these central questions, this article focuses in Bahia Blanca and Rosario ports experiences, analyzing some consequences emerging from an institutional reform modeled by private capital valorization and mediated by a public power shared between two territorial levels (province-municipality). New questions posited from this analysis point a review of the idea of port as a propulsive force of local economic development. These main reflections are discussed revisiting the nature of city-port links and its influence on local economy taking place since reform.