A review of dry ports

The objective of this article is to present the previous research on the dry port concept and to review the world's existing dry ports, that is freight terminals that use the term ‘dry port’ in their name. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to clarify the concept by showing potential discrepancies or agreements between theory and practice. Starting from a literature review on the dry port concept, this article presents a review of existing dry ports in the world. A number of qualitative criteria regarding the range of services at dry ports or their features could be theoretically established, although the same may vary depending on customer demand. However, the ultimate purpose of dry ports is the same, irrespective of that range. This article contributes to the study of dry ports by synthesizing a literature review on the subject of dry ports; moreover, it provides an overview of dry ports in the world and as such makes a contribution to the scarce research on the dry port concept.