Abstract
The remarkable demographic growth and economic development of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean regions stimulate an ever increasing need for trade between the shores, especially from regions of North Africa and the Middle East towards Western European countries. Today, these exchanges take place mainly by sea and by roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) ships; but the connections by container ships and by road transport are important too. Ro-Ro services are particularly crammed in some North-South directions, with relationships among few ports and with rather limited frequencies. Road transport, especially between the Middle East and Europe, has different limits in terms of cost, safety, and reliability. The paper proposes a hypothesis of a logistic organization on a Euro-Mediterranean scale, through the transition from a network of direct links to a hub and spoke (H&S) network, according to the scheme envisaged for air transport. The research aims to explore, within a framework of the socio-economic system and the mobility demand system, the feasibility of a H&S network for Ro-Ro freight in the Mediterranean basin, based on a hub with high logistical performances, limiting the planning to supply and process consequent impact assessments.
Highlights
The analysis of the freight transport is a topic characterized by numerous aspects
The right operation of the freight transport sector is fundamental to guarantee the economic development of a region and, because it is a constantly evolving sector, the phenomena concerning freight transport are very important in all fields of study that deal with territorial structures and their transformations
The research proposes a reorganization of the roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) transport network of the Mediterranean, currently based on point to point connections (P2P); the structuring of a hub and spoke (H&S) network is presented, with a hub located in Calabria and spoke, maritime and/or rail links, to reach the final destinations
Summary
The analysis of the freight transport is a topic characterized by numerous aspects. This complexity is determined, unlike what happens in the transport of people, by the variety of transported freights and by the fact that there are real constraints due to the location of production activities. It is necessary to use fast, high-speed ships capable of guaranteeing high frequencies in order to make Ro-Ro services competitive (in terms of costs and delivery times) with road and rail transport All this would lead to a concentrated development on some routes and few ports. The Mediterranean is a privileged transit route for containerized traffic, but it is a very significant area for short-distance Ro-Ro traffic, in the North-South direction This situation determines new market needs that require, transport services, and integrated logistics services that presuppose the existence and functionality of an intermodal network system capable of projecting the Mediterranean basin regions at the center of Europe. The hypothesis of a hub and spoke network structure to realize an integration between the TEN-T networks and the Ro-Ro sea routes coming from the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean in order to produce significant economies both for transport operators and users
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