Port Authorities as cluster managers: the case of the Ligurian ports

The paper analyses the role of Port Authorities as cluster managers able to generate resources for investments with benefits for the intermodal transport chain as a whole. Assessment is made of Port Authority initiatives to foster the development of intermodality and the creation of dry ports. The framework proposed is then applied to the case of the Ligurian ports, which compete less as individual structures than as nodal points within integrated logistic chains. We argue that the integration of the land logistic interface may prove beneficial to the Ligurian ports, and that this can be achieved only if the Port Authorities act as cluster managers.