Abstract
The tremendous increase in imports that has been happening over the years due to a prominent decline in local production, has given rise to the need to expand seaports to accommodate the growing demand for global imports. However, due to the limited and high price of land along the coastlines, inland port systems were introduced to take away the pressure from seaports. These ports perform the same functions and only differ by location. Ports are confluence places for two areas of freight movement (the land and maritime domains). it is essential to the transportation network that inland ports function as a link that allows goods to move easily. This study examines the knowledge gap between the benefits and challenges of an integrated inland port system since it provides direct first-hand information on a topic that has not been exhaustively explored in South Africa to any great extent. Due to the paucity of studies on South Africa's integrated inland port system, such contributions will aid in filling the identified gap in the literature. In this paper, the reader will be greeted by the introduction of this study which details the purpose, objectives, and research questions and further outlines the structure of the report. Later will approach the literature review and the methodology of the study. In terms of methodology, this study focused on qualitative data collection, where extensive desktop research and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The reader will finally get to the results and analysis of the study and the conclusion accompanied by the recommendations which stemmed from the findings of the study. Some of the major findings of the study are that there is a definite need for such a system in South Africa to play a positive role in reducing the cargo congestion currently experienced in the coastal ports and also there will be a decrease in trucks along highway roads that travel long distances transporting goods from the seaports to the inner parts of the country since the system will be rail reliant. There may be a huge difference in the end product pricing being dropped due to reduced transportation costs.