Evaluation of Containerized Trade and Competitiveness among Container Ports in Black Sea Basin

Abstract

With the increase in trading volume and competitiveness in global trade, ports have becomeindispensable and critical rivalry zones for countries. As competitiveness among the firm increaseat a global level, ports become a rivalry zone cause of being the most critical economic structuresand increasing competitiveness for transnational business and trade activities. The Black SeaBasin is one of the most important waterways in the world in terms of commercial, political andstrategic aspects. The devastating consequences of conflicts and tensions, especially in recentyears, prove the importance of the Black Sea Basin for world maritime trade. Therefore, the portsof the Black Sea Basin are of great importance. When the existing literature is reviewed, it is seenthat there are many studies on the competitiveness and efficiency issues. Since the studies in theliterature are mostly conceptual, it is obvious that they do not reveal analytical results, whichconstitutes a deficiency in the literature. In addition, the lack of a scientific study on theefficiency of container ports in the Black Sea Basin in recent years has made this study necessary.The aim of this study is to examine the efficiency and competitiveness of container ports in theBlack Sea Basin, which has a great importance both regionally and globally. The “DataEnvelopment Analysis” (DEA) of the input-oriented CCR model, which is a linear program, wasused to measure the productivity of the ports, and the relative efficiency of the ports wascalculated.