Development of seaport–dry port dyads: two cases from Northern Europe

• The contribution of the paper is a better understanding of the development of seaport–dry port dyads.
• A conceptual model of directional development, by Wilmsmeier et al. (2011), is used as a starting point.
• Model is developed further by taking into account development over time.
• Based on the findings from two case studies from Northern Europe an extended directional development framework is proposed.
• The findings suggest three development phases: pre-phase, start-up phase and growth phase.

An increase in sea freight flows generates an almost proportional increase in inland freight flows, and what takes place inland will influence the ability of intermodal transport systems to further accommodate the growth of international trade. This could be facilitated by dry ports, which have been developed to support seaport operations as well as the overall operations of intermodal transport systems.The aim of this paper is to develop the Wilmsmeier et al. (2011) framework of directional development by taking into account development over time. The purpose is to contribute to the understanding of the development of seaport–dry port dyads by the analysis of two in-depth case studies from Northern Europe. A qualitative research strategy is applied to increase understanding of the development. The results contribute to earlier studies of spatial development of seaport–dry port development by taking into account development over time and by increasing the understanding of the actors, the types of dry ports and the services influencing the development of the dyads.