Value-Added Services at Dry Ports: Balancing the Perspectives of Different Stakeholders

Abstract:The purpose of this study is to investigate which dry port services generate the greatest positive impact on stakeholders and their objectives. Stakeholders identified from the literature are the dry ports, the dry port’s municipality/region, the seaport, shippers, shipping lines, rail operators, and road operators. A method based on multi-actor multi-criteria analysis is applied to allow the evaluation of different scenarios considering the objectives and opinions of multiple stakeholders. The findings show that the basic services of the dry ports studied are crucial to establishing initial operations. Expanding the service portfolio by adding a wider range of customer-oriented value-added services generates extra economic and environmental benefits for stakeholders. The results expand the understanding on stakeholder benefits from the diversified range of dry port services, while the inclusion of multiple stakeholders in the analysis acknowledges the heterogeneity in stakeholder perceptions. Finally, this methodology enables the creation of an extensive set of criteria and indicators for dry port evaluations.