Ro-ro transport in Turkey and a research of a sample line

The importance of the maritime industry has been increasing day by day.Particularly, due to the developments in globalization and because of the negativeeffects of the fluctuations in the oil prices and the costs of transit passes seatransport is chosen as a substitute to road transport at all possible cases. Incomparison with the other transport modes, sea transport provides the cheapestprices per unit and most safe transport. Besides, it is the most convenient way oftransporting large volume goods such as oil, coal, grain etc. According to theresearches, sea transport is the most preferred transport mode since it is 22 timescheaper than air transport, 7 times cheaper to road transport and 3,5 times cheaperthan railway transport. For this reason, sea transport has a share of 80 percent inthe world trade.Being able to integrate with the other transport modes, Ro-Ro transport andRo-Ro vessels have a significant advantage in short sea shipping. In paralel toeconomical developments and tourism activities, usage of Ro-Ro vessels areimproving. Ro-Ro vessels are used to transport; locomotives, coaches, roll onvehicles which are able to move itself or tugged and also passenger, container, bulkcargo transport. The reason of preferring Ro-Ro transport especially in the memberstates of the European Union is its flexibility and capability of carrying different kindof cargo.This study aims to analyse Ro-Ro transport which is a branch of short seashipping that European Union has been focusing on it in recent years, in Turkey?sviiaspect. After a detailed search in logistics literature, a sample Ro-Ro line has beenchosen and in addition to personal interviews, observations are collected by joininga voyage of a vessel belonging to this Ro-Ro line The chosen Ro-Ro line has beenanalysed by its economical condition and potential with a survey which aims toimprove Ro-Ro operations. The results of this research could be useful to determinethe necessary investments in short and middle term for the ports which areproviding Ro-Ro operations. Also companies which are requesting maritimetransport service may benefit from these results to reach a more effective choice.Keywords: 1) Ro-Ro Transport in Turkey2) Çeşme-Trieste Ro-Ro Line3) Short Sea Shipping4) Ro-Ro Lines Between Turkey and Italy5) Ro-Ro Ports in Turkeyviii