Identifying and Prioritizing Effective Factors in Constructing Dry Ports in Iran

This research aims at identifying and ranking the effective factors in constructing dry ports in Iran. Initially, by reviewing the literature and inputs from professionals, 20 important criteria impacting constructing dry ports were identified,categorized under three groups of infrastructure, hardware and software and data were collected through questionnaire. Questionnaire’s validity was determined by university professors and professionals and reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated by Cronbach’s Alpha, which showed an acceptable level of 0.789. Collected data were analyzed by appropriate tatistical tests. The results showed that the main dimensions of software, hardware and infrastructure were the most effective factors in constructing dry ports in Iran respectively. Moreover, of the 20 identified criteria, “the availability of the equipment and facilities for loading and unloading”, “providing the customs and clearance services”, “access to the national and international main routes (hinterland)” were the most important criteria and have had the most effects on constructing dry ports. Criteria such as “access to the empty container for commercial transactions”, “proximity to the production markets and “access to the borders” showed the least effect on constructing dry ports in Iran.