Inland cities, maritime gateways, and international trade

Abstract

This research focuses on the accessibility of inland cities to maritime trade. A quantitative analysis of 64 inland capital cities situated in coastal countries is proposed based on indicators that relate to ports, transport, trade, and urban factors. The identified trends suggest that there is a trade-off between remoteness from the sea and trade openness, which leads us to postulate the existence of three typologies of inland cities: major logistics hubs, constrained metropolises, and underdeveloped corridors. We conduct a more qualitative review of intermodalism and port choice issues with reference to a selection of six selected case studies. The observed spatial configurations have implications for logistics and governance.