Conceptualisation of a framework for dry ports: an umbrella review

Dry ports are increasingly important in port–hinterland logistics, yet research on the subject remains fragmented across isolated themes and review traditions. This article presents an umbrella review of 22 systematic and structured literature reviews on dry ports to synthesise higher-order evidence and develop an integrated conceptual framework. The study compares methodological approaches, maps thematic emphases, and applies reflexive thematic analysis to consolidate the review corpus. The synthesis identifies six interrelated themes: Concept and Classification, Policy and Governance, Port Management and Strategies, Spatial Analysis, Dry Port Operations, and Sustainability, comprising 37 elements. These are further interpreted through a dry port ecosystem model that explains how conceptual, institutional, spatial, strategic, and operational dimensions interact to shape sustainability outcomes. The findings show that dry port research is strongest in location, optimisation, and technical analysis, while governance, social sustainability, and regionally differentiated evidence remain less developed. The article contributes a systems-oriented synthesis that moves beyond isolated thematic reviews by refining broad categories into an operationalisable framework for comparative research, empirical validation, and policy analysis. The framework provides a structured basis for future dry port scholarship and a diagnostic lens for evaluating dry port development within wider multimodal logistics systems.