Freight village as dry port: an ongoing Italian case study.

The authors intend to suggest an interpretation of dry ports as functional organs of a larger facility, known in Italy as “interporto,” with reference to an Italian reality. This research fills a gap in literature as to the authors’ knowledge. There is lack of research on the dry port concept, and this is the first chapter presenting this concept in an interpretation “functional” to the co-modality model of an “interporto.” The chapter firstly aims at contributing to finding possible contact points between what has up to now been defined as “dry port” and the concept of “co-modality.” The following section briefly defines the characteristics of a facility such as “interporto.” Then the connections between recent developments in shipping and in terminal business and the increased role of dry ports in the value chain are explored. Finally, the authors suggest challenges and opportunities for further study and draw their conclusions.