208 Dry port location optimization to foster sustainable regional development Sustainability in Debate - Brasília, v. 11, n.2, p. 208-222, aug/2020 ISSN-e 2179-9067 Dry port locaton optmizaton to foster sustainable regional development Otmização locacional de portos secos para fomentar o desenvolvimento regional sustentável Marlon Fernandes de Souzaa Paulo H. Góes Pintob Raphael B. Alves Teixeirac Carla de O. Leite Nascimentod Rodrigo A. de Albuquerque Nóbregae aUniversity of Campinas (UNICAMP), School of Agricultural Engineering, Campinas, SP, Brazil. E-mail: marlonfernandesdesouza@gmail.com bFederal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), School of Engineering, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. E-mail: paulo-goes@ufmg.br cFederal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), School of Engineering, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. E-mail: teixeiraraph@outlook.com dFederal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), School of Engineering, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. E-mail: carla.oln@gmail.com eFederal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Geosciences Insttute and School of Engineering, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. E-mail: raanobrega@ufmg.br doi:10.18472/SustDeb.v11n2.2020.27073 Received: 06/09/2019 Accepted: 01/06/2020 ARTICLE - DOSSIER ABSTRACT The saturaton of hinterland accentuates adverse environmental impacts and socio-spatal conficts, demanding logistcal alternatves. As a soluton, the dry port enables the decentralizaton of customs, handling, and storage operatons, which mitgates part of the problems, in additon to stmulatng the economy in the region where it operates. Thus, its locaton is crucial for the efciency of import and export logistc systems. This paper aimed to evaluate the spatal distributon of dry ports in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and to identfy the best locatons for a new installaton. The methodology put together two recognized methods for locaton defniton: the Spatal Multcriteria Analysis and the Locaton-Allocaton Problem. The frst, in line with the most current practces in transportaton planning, integrated social, environmental and technical criteria. The second adopted the frst’s result as weighted demand and applied a metaheuristc to solve an optmizaton problem. Findings show the regional disparity and the defciency of logistc infrastructures in the north of Minas Gerais. All scenarios point to the Montes