Dry port: A review on concept, classification, functionalities and technological processes

The purpose of this article is to offer a literature review on the development and classification of inland terminals, later defined as 'dry ports'. The aim of the paper is to analyze the extant literature on dry ports focusing on their concept, classification, function and technological processes. The review offers an updated structured approach to what is currently defined as a dry port. To this end, a structured keyword search in major electronic databases has been conducted to find related material. As there are many different names indicating dry ports in European, South East Asian and North American countries, the following keywords were used: 'dry port', 'inland terminal', 'freight village' and 'interporto/i'. The search was conducted in respect of the article title and text, abstract and keywords. The results show that there is no unanimous consensus concerning cataloguing of terrestrial nodal facilities serving port gateways. 'Dry ports' have emerged as fundamental elements of the integration between the sea 'system' and the land network. The increased interest in the genesis and development of dry ports has been accompanied by an abundant contribution of the scientific community, originating a thriving literature, which, however, does not find a common denominator.