Abstract:

Transportation is one of the least apparent yet vitally important components of global economy. Transportation of raw materials, intermediate products or the final products are important components of freight shipment and indirectly globalization as well as global economy. While being a transit country, Turkey, by virtue of its geographical advantage, can be considered as a logistic site in the region due to its location. At the same time, Turkey conducts large sum of its exports and imports via maritime lines. However, due to geographical factors and insufficient infrastructures, road transportation is used at the national level in the ratio of 90%. In contrast to maritime and railroad transportation, road transportation offers a more flexible transportation, yet, it is at a disadvantage due to freightage in low volumes and costs. Correspondingly, it increases the freight costs both in international trade and national freight shipment. In the scope of this study, first, the distribution of Turkey’s foreign trade volume in between the modes of transportation is examined by utilizing the data on imports and exports based on freight and value; second, the cities and regions that principally take part in exports and import activities are analyzed. As a result, for sustainable development and sustainable transportation it is recommended that there is a necessity: i) to provide balanced distribution of public investments among all modes of logistics, ii) to complete the omitted infrastructure works, iii) in the context of particularly national freight transportation to develop the railroad and coaster maritime transportations as eco-friendly and as cost-efficient transportation modes in contrast to road transportation, iv) to homogeneously disperse the production facilities involved in imports and exports not only to specific regions but throughout the country.

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