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.
