Abstract:

One of the responsibilities of being a living link of a global value chain is to have a developed transportation network and to create an effective logistics activity management. In this context, various transportation corridors are established in order to make effective and efficient trade between countries in the world. There are 3 corridors connecting East and West in the Eurasia region. These are the North, Central and South corridors. Turkey is located on the Middle Corridor connecting to Europe, starting from the Western China region by rail, respectively, crossing the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan by ferry. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway line is one of the stages of the middle corridor. Hence, an uninterrupted railway line was provided between China and Europe. Incentives of the European Union for sustainable transport types have been increasing recently. In this context, rail transport is seen as an alternative to road transport because it requires less energy and is environmentally friendly. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate which railway line to transport to Europe via Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line and to determine a logistics centre to be established on the line. Within the framework of the criteria determined by taking the literature research and expert opinions in line with the study purposes, the most suitable railway transportation line for the BTK line was determined by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method; As the second stage, the locations of the logistics centres that should be on this line were determined by the Centre of Gravity Method (Geographical Coordinates Method).

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