Competitiveness between short sea shipping and road freight transport in mainland port connections; the case of two Greek ports

While road freight transport is essential to any modern economy, short sea shipping (SSS) offers a competitive alternative mode of freight transport in terms of private and social costs, when applied in the connection of mainland ports. This mainly stems from the fact that within the context of the latter costs, accidents and environmental impacts in many road links constitute undesirable externalities with which road freight transport is heavily burdened. This paper compares the aforementioned economics of road and sea transport with reference to the connection of the port of Patra (the main western freight gate of Greece) with West Attica (the biggest Greek industrial centre), aiming at providing a viable solution towards the promotion of SSS in the transport chain between mainland ports.