This research benefits the strategic governance of inland ports located within urban areas by analysing the logistical dedicatedness and the geographic reach of economic activities that take place within a specific inland port. We find that the port under consideration faces challenges of retaining relatively new traffic categories (e.g. pallets) characterised by a high potential for transport mode substitution, whilst the more traditional traffic categories (e.g. construction materials) show higher levels of logistical dedicatedness to the port. The latter do so while generating negative local externalities. As a result, this assessment and application of the Port Hinterland Impact matrix (PHI) serves the creation of crucial strategic insights that allow policy makers to improve their urban freight policy and the role of inland ports therein. Furthermore, these insights allow for the identification of key stakeholders with whom strategic objectives can or cannot be easily aligned in the context of urban logistics.

doi.org/10.4337/9781788976640.00021, hdl.handle.net/1765/128820
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Aerts, G. (Geoffrey), Dooms, M., Haezendonck, E., & Langenus, M. (Mychal). (2020). Assessing the strategic role of inland ports in urban freight policy: An application to the port of Brussels. In Geographies of Maritime Transport: Transport, Mobilities and Spatial Change (pp. 292–311). doi:10.4337/9781788976640.00021