An evaluation of competition and selection criteria between dry bulk terminals in Izmir

Gökcay Balci, Ismail Bilge Cetin and Soner Esmer

Journal of Transport Geography, 2018, vol. 69, issue C, 294-304

Abstract: Port competition and selection studies have mostly focused on container shipping, and the competition among dry bulk terminals has been ignored in the literature. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore terminal competition and selection criteria in the dry bulk market with a case study applied in Izmir, Turkey. A mixed methodology approach that combines qualitative and quantitative data is employed. The paper reveals seven main criteria for dry bulk terminal selection. One of them, the physical and technical capability of the terminal, is found to be a pre-condition that cannot be traded off. The importance weights of the other six selection criteria are ascertained using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis. Cargo handling costs are the most important criterion, while the other criteria in rank order are damage/loss performance, location, handling speed, responsiveness, and storage facilities. The results indicate that dry bulk shippers have different rankings of selection criteria, thus suggesting that shippers' expectations are heterogeneous. Although dry bulk terminal selection criteria are similar to those in container shipping, the content is quite different. Another interesting result is that shippers in the dry bulk market are concerned with some similar issues as carriers in container shipping when selecting a port.

Keywords: Port competition; Terminal selection criteria; Dry bulk shipping; Dry bulk terminal; Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692317307743

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:294-304

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.05.011

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Transport Geography is currently edited by Frank Witlox

More articles in Journal of Transport Geography from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().