Interporti in Italia tra intermodalità e retroportualità Un analisi di efficienza con frontiera di produzione stocastica

The article presents an analysis of the technical efficiency of Italian interports which have received public contributions in accordance with Law 240/90 and subsequent modifications. The main aim of the study was to highlight and verify, under the profile of technical efficiency, various hypotheses of the potential influence of logistical-territorial factors on the production and operational characteristics of interports, in relation with the road-rail intermodality and with retro-port functioning. A cross-sectional version of the stochastic frontier production model was used under the functional form of the production frontier is the log linear Cobb-Douglas function. As shown within a wide sector literature with specific reference to intermodal terminal transport infrastructures. Factors characterizing the efficiency analysis were capacity and size, geographical position with regard to international traffic, terrestrial intermodality, the relationships of traffic and logistics with ports, the operational vocation with regard to the production structures of the territorial reference platform.