Measuring intermodalism at European port cities: an employment-based study

Since many studies on intermodalism face a lack of empirical evidence and comparative research, this paper focuses on the modal distribution of employment among 76 European port cities. Data is collected from 9,000 companies and more than one million employees involved in port, sea, air, road, rail, warehousing, forwarding, and logistics, together with population, port, and air traffics. Results of the factor analysis show inter-modal linkages and allow differentiating the port cities. It appears that the recurrent opposition between freight and passenger-oriented specialisations is largely influenced by a European core-periphery spatial pattern.