Transport-mode competition in intra-national trade: An empirical investigation for the Spanish case

•This paper analyzes the presence of transport-mode competition within a country.•We analyze sector-specific flows between Spain’s provinces by 4 transport modes for 2007.•The flows are modeled by a Spatial Autoregressive Gravity Model (SARGM).•We identify segments of distance for which road competes with other modes.•We identify competing transport-mode structures between road and the other three modes. Trade within and between countries can take place by alternative transport modes. Economic and logistical complexity is fostering multimodality as well as transport-mode competition. The international trade literature has given little attention to this issue. The aim of this paper is to analyze transport-mode competition in inter-provincial deliveries within Spain. To this end, we use a detailed dataset with fifty inter-provincial, industry-specific flows by four transport modes (road, train, ship and aircraft). We then feed this dataset into various specifications of a gravity model that incorporates cross-sectional dependence attributable to unobservable factors directly associated with the presence of transport-mode competition schemes. In considering alternative distance segments, we also test for competition effects between road and the other three modes.