Hinterland, In: The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology

In transport geography the word hinterland designates the catchment area of a transport terminal such a port, an airport or an intermodal yard. The performance of the hinterland segment is crucial on the cost competitiveness of an end-to-end transport chain. Not all the places within a hinterland are equally important; the core usually provides much of the cargo and it is usually easy to identify. The margins are diffuse and difficult to delineate, as they are usually subject to competition with other transport terminals. Within the field of maritime transport, containerization has favored the expansion and overlapping of hinterlands, although the extent of these changes remains to be measured.