Core-port connectivity: Towards shaping a national hinterland in a West Asia country

The relationship between seaports and hinterlands play an important role in shaping the spatial structure of a country. The present article intends to explore the port-hinterland commodity relations in the last two decades in Iran by using a social network analysis method to analyze the intensity, direction, and concentration of commodity flows and to explain the spatial structure of port-hinterland relations. The results indicate that the southern ports of Iran have strengthened the centrality of the main inland city. Most selected indicators show that the three nodes including Tehran, Bandar Abbas, and Mahshahr Port have been the most interacting and exchanging commodity flows during the recent two decades. Thus, we can conclude that Tehran as the main core located at the national hinterland of Iran has a major role in the production, consumption, processing, and distribution of commodities. Other logistical nodes in regional and local hinterlands are mostly affiliated with the core in spite of their proximity to the ports. This pattern of commodity flow forms a different spatial structure that we introduce as a different phase of port - hinterland evolution: core-port connectivity.