The rise of inland ports was initially associated with the effort to relieve port congestion. But now inland ports, often built around rail and road hubs, are an integrated and essential part of the supply chain.
A concept initially designed to relieve congestion at seaports, the modern “inland” dry port has evolved into a vital cog in the worldwide logistics network.
The sheer scope of global ocean cargo commerce coupled with an increasing demand for speed - whether it involves temperature-controlled goods, bulk products or traditional containerized cargo - has given these inland hubs a critical management role.
Expanding Business of Inland Ports
The Inland Container Depot (ICD) and Dry Port market was valued at $31.3 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD $43.3 billion by 2030 - a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5.4 percent, according to Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets.
The research firm says “the ICD and Dry Port market’s growth is driven by expanding global trade and the accelerating demands of e-commerce, which require efficient inland freight handling and logistics support. As seaport congestion increases due to rising container volumes, ICDs and dry ports are becoming essential extensions for managing cargo movement inland.”
“Their role in last-mile delivery and regional logistics optimization makes them vital assets for modern supply chains adapting to both bulk cargo needs and time-sensitive consumer goods,” Research and Markets reports.
Helbing said dry ports have evolved from “extended gate” to “full logistics ecosystems.”
Integrating Inland Ports into the Supply Chain
Dr. Paul Kent, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Ports and Logistics for Monument Economic Group of Arlington, VA., said inland dry ports are now fully integrated logistics parks, combining bonded warehousing, cold storage, fulfillment, light assembly, and multimodal rail/road services. He said prime examples of this shift include Thanaleng in Lao PDR, which Monument helped develop, and Zaragoza PLAZA in Spain.
Kent said the Thanaleng project was designed as part of China’s Belt Road Initiative to provide land-based connectivity to Lao PDR - southeast Asia’s only landlocked country - whose economic growth is disadvantaged by lack of maritime port access and efficient land connectivity to serve its trade sector.
The country’s logistics were constrained by the unavailability of cargo handling facilities and institutional mechanisms that would enable trade rather than hamper it. As part of that effort to improve connectivity, the government has encouraged the development of dry ports. The $110 million Thanaleng investment, located in Vientiane, is Lao PDR’s largest dry port to provide the same services as marine terminals. It will also include a mixed-use development consisting of warehousing, hotels and commercial development, banks, and residential facilities. Investors were awarded a 50-year concession to build and operate the facility, which is currently serving a Chinese rail line as well as freight trucks.
Kent said many port-side technologies have migrated inland, reshaping how dry ports operate. He said Terminal Operating Systems (TOS) are now used in dry ports to manage gates, yards, and container movements. Plus, RFID & IoT tracking is utilized in container identification, yard equipment monitoring, and real-time inventory visibility while OCR gate systems and appointment scheduling is helping to smooth truck arrivals and reduce dwell time. In addition, digital customs platforms, single-window systems and Port Community Systems (PCS) are linking inland facilities with seaports, carriers, and customs.
Helbing agreed about the technological advances of dry ports.
“Generally, the technology used at dry ports follows the developments in deepwater seaports. This will include OCR, automation, and pre-clearance systems to facilitate connectivity with the ports,” he said. “Dry ports and seaports have also started using real-time connections to track and trace cargo, predict sailing schedules, and prevent potential glitches in advance. In the last few years, many dry ports have taken steps to develop zero-emission transport and decarbonize their operations.”
Do Inland Ports Relieve Congestion?
Helbing said the results are mixed on whether dry ports have eased congestion at seaports.
“Yes and No. On several occasions, we see ambitions to change the modality, for example, reduce the road congestion in and around the ports and move more on barges and rail connections, especially in North Europe. Unfortunately, road transportation’s competitive tariffs and flexibility still dominate,” Helbing said. “Additional road pricing is likely needed to really shift the modality and reduce the last delivery kilometers. Of course, there are also success stories where new dry ports support the port in taking trucks off the road and moving the containers inland by rail. However, to be cost-competitive, higher volumes and block trains are required. For example, the Venlo Dry Port in the Netherlands - located near the border of Germany - started as a rail-connected dry port but has developed into a larger logistics complex: the Venlo Greenport. It is a true gateway to Germany with more than 200 international companies established since the 1980s and is Holland’s main export hub for Agrifood.”
(However) it is becoming more challenging, especially when the inland dry ports are close to population centers, they will face similar constraints in development as the main seaports. New developments tend to be closer to industrial and logistic sites.
Haskoning has supported dry port development across the world including:
Al Rawdah Freezone (DP World) is a 100 km2 dry port at the border between the UAE and Oman. Situated between the ports of Sohar and Dubai, the dry port is an excellent place to shift low-value operations from the seaports to the hinterland. The operations are land-consuming and cannot be hosted in the crowded ports such as Dubai.
Saudi Global Ports (a subsidiary of PSA International, formerly Port of Singapore Authority) has been awarded a 10-year concession by SAR to operate three dry ports.
Tashkent Dry Port Development - the new owner of a dry port in Tashkent needed to invest in new civil structures, staff, equipment and systems to modernize the facility to support traffic growth from the region’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) development.
Tanger Med port complex, which includes a major dry port, has been a big success story due to its strategic location at the Strait of Gibraltar, which connects Europe, Africa, and Asia.
“We see more integration from the deep seaports with inland dry ports developed by global port operators. It will be counterproductive if each global terminal operator develops its own network. Due to space constraints and synergies, the industry should strive towards common-user facilities with efficient rail connectivity,” Helbing said. “Especially with future road pricing, it is the expectation that rail and, where possible, inland waterway movements will become more cost-competitive, combined with shorter and zero-emission final deliveries. A better coordination between ports and inland terminals, and especially warehousing 24/7 operations is needed to allow for most efficiencies.”
Function Not Labels
Kent stressed that dry ports are about function, not labels. With Los Angeles/Long Beach overwhelmed during COVID, containers were evacuated inland to depots and warehouse parks in the Central Valley and Inland Empire. Though not formally “dry ports,” Kent said, these facilities relieved congestion by absorbing overflow and processing freight outside the immediate port area. Here, the benefit is not just seaport congestion relief but enabling last-mile logistics closer to demand.
“Dry ports are pressure valves — wherever congestion or land scarcity makes it necessary, inland facilities can serve the same role,” Kent said.
Kent said the effectiveness of dry ports depends on three factors: rail service quality, customs presence and seaport coordination.
“In India, inland container depots with on-site customs officials allow boxes to leave marine terminals almost immediately, reducing port dwell times and gaining land area for container handling as clearance shifts offsite. Where customs is absent, dry ports function more like container storage depots and lose a core advantage,” Kent said. “The Virginia Inland Port is successful in part because it operates as an “extended gate” of the Port of Virginia, sharing IT systems and management. Without such alignment, dry ports can add complexity. Some dry ports succeed even when located far from seaports, because they act as distribution hubs aligned with hinterland markets.”
He said land availability, community acceptance, and environmental scrutiny are growing constraints on dry port locations.
“Dry ports require large, well-connected parcels of land near rail and highways. Urbanization and high land prices make suitable sites scarce. In the U.S. Midwest, land around Chicago’s rail hub is expensive with competing interests by industrial, residential, and commercial users,” he said. “Communities often resist large logistics projects due to concerns over truck traffic, noise, and air quality. The Utah Inland Port (UIP) in Salt Lake City faced lawsuits and protests from local residents who opposed the environmental impacts and questioned governance arrangements. UIP was conceived as a single mega-terminal but faced strong resistance on environmental and political grounds. The UIP concept then shifted to a distributed model, with smaller nodes spread across Utah instead of one large hub, to reduce concentrated congestion/activity.”
