Motorways of the Sea as an alternative to all-road transport: An application to an Italian case study [Le autostrade del mare come alternativa al "tutto strada": Una applicazione ad un caso Italiano]

In this paper, a quantitative study is performed on the competitiveness of MoS against road transport, in the modal split between Italian mainland and Sicily. The alternatives considered are: the “nearly all-road” transport, where the only maritime part is the crossing of the strait of Messina; and the intermodal transport: road + MoS, accompained and unaccompained. The results of the analysis point out that the intermodal unaccompanied transport is almost always the most convenient mode if generalized costs are considered. Moreover, the results of the analysis clearly show that the chosen paths (of minimum cost), in the case of intermodal transport, are highly influenced by the availability of MoS services. The results of this work could help decision makers and maritime operators, to better invest on MoS routes in order to improve the competitiveness of intermodal transport against all road transport.