Analysis of the Inland Port Regionalization Process in Spain

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to analyse and compare the ability of the main Spanish containers ports to penetrate into their inland territory along the last decade. To achieve this goal we firstly identify the inland origin of the container cargo by considering the location of the Spanish companies generating those flows in the peninsula. Then we determine the distribution of flows among the considered ports from 2000 to 2010, setting the boundaries of their hinterlands along that period. Finally we use two indexes to assess the evolution of these hinterlands in a complementary way: by their scope and their homogeneity.Furthermore, considering that the inter-port distribution of the traffic can change according to their composition, we repeat the analysis in a disaggregate way; that is, separately for each one of the main flows (by volume) of the Spanish foreign trade on the basis of the Combined Nomenclature Clasification.The main results show that the port of Valencia is the one whose hinterland has better evolved: by increasing its scope and by reducing its dependency both geographical as by type of flow. They also highlight that the main centres generating the maritime container flows are closer to this port than to the rest. Also these results allow us to conclude that this port regionalization process has not been oblivious to its economic environment but positively influenced by it