Introduction: The competitiveness of a port depends on hinterland characteristics, among other factors. In particular, hinterland accessibility and efficient inland logistics are key factors in ensuring the speed of goods flows. The port systems have to be configured as an efficient and logistically effective interface between oceanic maritime trade and inland trade. The paper has been elaborated starting from research carried out in the European ISTEN project (Integrated and Sustainable Transport in the Efficient Network), aiming to improve the intermodal connections among the ports of the Adriatic-Ionian area and the ports and their hinterlands. Objective: The objective of the work is to propose an original approach for identifying the port hinterland based on the evaluation of transport times and costs in the whole supply chain (from the origin in the foreland zone to a final destination in the hinterland). Methods: The analyses have been carried out by considering separately the transport time and monetary cost components and generalized transport cost. The methodology involves wide research of data and careful analysis of the port hinterland connectivity. An analytical application is proposed in order to identify and compare the potential hinterlands of two Italian ports, Gioia Tauro and Genoa. Results: The results of the proposed analyses show that the geographical distribution of the port hinterlands changes significantly in relation to the reference drivers in terms of monetary cost and time along the intermodal international paths; this has led to further analyses considering the transport generalized cost which has integrated into travel time and monetary cost. Conclusion: The aim of the proposed approach is to overcome the limits of the methodologies of the sector based on geographical characteristics that focus attention only on market aspects considering marginally the transport component. The methodology is transferable to other contexts and other types of freight interchange nodes by adapting the cost functions.

Freight fleet management (FM) can be defined as an optimization process of freight vehicles scheduling and routing, aimed at reducing time, costs, energy, and environmental impacts. In the specialized literature, there are many FM studies. The focus of this paper is on the FM in the context of a container port to increase the productivity and pursue the sustainability of the logistics node improving the performance by using freight advanced handling units (HUs). The use of automated HUs reduces the time and costs of each port activity, eliminating timewasters and increasing safety; however, it requires advanced intelligent management. Moreover, the automation is in line with energy and environmental sustainability. The paper aims to assess the impacts due to the automation of HUs by using a simulation approach. After a framework of traditional and automated HUs, allowing to highlight their main characteristics, the work considers the organizational problems of a container port and introduces a methodological approach to manage the FM of HUs. Finally, the application to a real context is presented to compare the present configuration of a container port with some project scenarios, considering different levels of automation, as the partial and total replacements of traditional HUs with advanced/automated vehicles.

Demand models allow to estimate the choices made by users on different alternatives. Demand models depend on the characteristic attributes of the users and transport networks, as well as on parameters. Their significance translates into the reliability of the model in reproducing users’ choices as demand values. Traffic counts are aggregated data that can be used to update demand values of O/D matrix and/or for re-calibrating parameters from sets of parameters obtained in different situations or at different times in the same scenario using a reverse assignment modal. This paper provides the use of passenger counts to update national air transport demand by calibrating a hierarchical logit model. The application focuses on estimating the demand values for a secondary airport of an underdeveloped European region with the calibration of the logsum parameter working between distribution and modal choice. The updated model can be used to test new conditions for the supply of a new service or to increase the frequency or to modify the ticket level by means of public service obligations. The results show that the introduction of public obligations in the secondary airport in an underdeveloped region is crucial for future sustainability. Considering the decline in the economic, social and environmental sustainability in the region, the airport is central to economic and social development at the same time as being important for environmental sustainability, as it limits the impacts on the territory related to the construction of large transport infrastructures.

Ports are a key element of the economic development of a country but have to face with many problems of different nature, above all, linked to the governance process. In particular, some ports, due to a slow and complex bureaucracy, find difficult to become competitive on a European and international level.The paper investigates the critical issues related to port nodes and proposes a model that allows to understand which variables at governance level, can be modified to intervene in order to improve the competitiveness of a port and therefore encourage the economic development of his country. A European comparison is presented in which the individual components of the costs are analyzed.

Intelligent warehouses are becoming a key to logistics systems thanks to their ability to optimize the transportation tasks and, consequently, reduce costs. This article introduces an analysis of some problems related to the functional management of a logistics platform, with the aim of improving the active processes for the treatment and handling of goods by using ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) and specific automation. In particular, the study proposes the specification, calibration, and test of a stochastic, dynamic, discrete-event micro-simulation model to analyze , the inbound trucks and goods management. The final goal is to reduce the time costs related to goods receiving.