Ports, external costs, and Northern Italian transport network design: effects for the planned transformation

Modern ports need to be inserted in an efficient network in order to exploit all their potential, positively affecting both the efficiency of the local markets and the external costs of the served industries. Moreover, the role of the ports within the whole supply chain is affected by the location and the organization of intermediate facilities—such as logistics parks or inland ports—that heavily influence both the effectiveness of the logistics corridors and the externalities generated by the transport industry. New and adequate infrastructures can then reduce congestions, pollution, and accidents smoothing the whole logistics chains. The proposed study aims at discussing the effects in terms of rail share of the different planned interventions that are aimed at increasing the rail capacity of the network under investigation. In order to achieve this goal, a network optimization model has been solved by the optimizer solver of a spreadsheet. Outcomes can be used in order to improve current transport policies that might foster a more efficient and less impacting hinterland transport solution.