PORT AND RAILWAY CONNECTIONS AND THE HINTERLAND CONCEPT

Abstract

Intermodal transport began in the early twentieth century with railroad cars loaded onto carrier ships. At that time, only a few systems were available as standard freight units suitable for intermodal transport. By the middle of the twentieth century, the carriage of road vehicles, known as piggybacks, using car carrier ships or flat car trailers, became more common. Considering that that mode of transport will always play a role in the transport of containers, one can conclude that congestion problems in ports burden the infrastructure near the ports also. The deficiency of space forces ports to improve solutions for port tasks such as filling, storage, and congestion, using the new port concepts with the port entrance shifted to the interior. The increasing volume of container transport in ports has also led to a general increase in the transport volume in ports, increased the geographical coverage of the market, and significantly transferred ports into hinterlands. Ports have played a vital role not only in terms of domestic activities and the provision of exports and imports but also in other transport networks. In this study, the author emphasized the importance of hinterland logistics and proposed some solutions.