Analysis of Intermodal and Intramodal Competition in Freight Transport Market between Turkey and Europe

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the degree of competition between alternative ro-ro lines operating between Turkey and Europe (intramodal competition). We also aim to analyze whether the land (road) transport is a significant substitute for the ro-ro transport for the trade between Turkey and Europe (intermodal competition). This paper is a part of the economic analysis which we carried out for defining the relevant market in a case in which the Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) investigated the predatory pricing behavior of UN Ro-Ro Isletmeleri A.S. (UN Ro-Ro) in 2012. The analysis consists of two stages: We first estimate price elasticities of demand for ro-ro lines by using a logit demand model with firm-level data. Then, ‘full equilibrium relevant market’ (FERM) test which is a more developed version of the hypothetical monopolist test (HMT) is used in order to run several hypothetical merger simulations for measuring intramodal and intermodal competition. The results show that the relevant market incorporates only seven ro-ro lines, not land transport.