Intermodality has become a major goal in modern transport policy. The improvement of combined transport within the European Union (EU) includes the refinement of the freight terminal services. In this paper, the authors describe and analyse the freight terminal market with the help of M. Porter's model of five competitive forces. The central question is: who are the stakeholders in the terminal market? The authors address particularly the critical decision factors faced by terminal operators in terms of strategic importance, location and network configuration of freight terminals by employing M. Porter's competitive focus. Firstly, the industry competitors in the freight terminal market are analysed. Secondly, the buyers of the freight terminal services are described, followed by the suppliers of the terminal infrastructure. Other competitive forces are the potential entrants into the terminal market and the substitutes for the use of freight terminals. After the outline of this analytical framework of the freight terminal market, it is possible to identify where the economic power is located in the terminal market and how the positions of the different players in the market can be enhanced.
Abstract