Abstract
This paper aims at reviewing the current state of transport infrastructure in the Baltic States, listing - their main developments and challenges. The interest in the Baltic states originates from two distinct perspectives: their importance as a new market within the EU and their transit function for trade with Russia. Combining these views leads to forecasts of raising trade volumes that the transport infrastructure in the Baltic states must consider. Recent developments, however, point to another direction. In essence, it is questioned how long the Baltic States will be able to function as a gateway for other EU member states to the Russian market. The paper therefore discusses new logistics trends, mainly focusing on the importance of supply chain management (SCM) and a supply chain orientation in providing future opportunities for the transport sector and logistics service providers in the Baltic states.
Highlights
Some economies in transition have become increasingly important to international companies due to their geopolitical status, low labor cost, potential growth in their markets, etc. (Ulengin and Uray, 1999)
About 40% of Russian exports to non-Baltic European Union (EU) member states are transported through the Baltic States (Laurila, 2003)
May 2004 marked a historical era for Europe with ten new countries from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean joining the European Union
Summary
Some economies in transition (or Simchi-Levi et aI., 2003: emerging economies) have become increasingly important to international companies due to their geopolitical status, low labor cost, potential growth in their markets, etc. (Ulengin and Uray, 1999). Regional technical impediments such as differences in railway track gauges and signal systems preclude developments in other areas such as the US (Lewis et al, 2001; Sankaran, 2000) This makes the benchmarking of logistics practices in economies in transition to developed countries (see, e.g., Carranza et al, 2002) largely obsolete, because the specialties of a region can lead to innovative solutions unthinkable in other regions (Sankaran, 2000), which counterbalance differences that may appear on the surface as a mere economic benchmarking. While comparisons are important in order to realize similarities and, importantly, differences in the preconditions of logistics development, the literature on logistics in economies in transition has established the practice to describe a country (see, e.g., Jiang and Prater, 2002; Peng and Vellenga, 1993; Rydzkowski, 1993; Sankaran, 2000; Olengin and Uray, 1999; Waters, 1999) or a region (see, e.g., Goh and Ang, 2000; Persson and Backman, 1993) as a unique case. A short discussion of the main findings of the paper and implications for the transport sector and logistics service providers concludes the paper
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