Maritime transport, disaster management humanitarian aid İskenderun region

Natural and human-induced disasters occurring both globally and in Turkey necessitate large-scale humanitarian aid operations and effective logistics management. Maritime transportation, which plays a critical role in disaster logistics, significantly contributes to disaster management processes by enabling the economical and rapid transport of large volumes of goods. However, while existing research broadly addresses the role of maritime transportation in disaster logistics, there is a lack of comprehensive studies specifically examining this issue in the İskenderun region. This study aims to evaluate how the maritime transportation infrastructure in İskenderun is integrated into disaster management processes and to identify key challenges encountered in this context. A quantitative research method was adopted in this study, with surveys used as the primary data collection tool. Participants included port authorities in İskenderun, experts in disaster management, maritime faculty students, representatives of humanitarian aid organizations, and other public and private sector employees. The collected data were analyzed using frequency and percentage analyses, chi-square tests, and word cloud analysis. Additionally, an extensive literature review was conducted. The research findings indicate that maritime transportation provides significant logistical support in disaster management. A total of 63% of participants stated that maritime transportation is highly or very highly effective in disaster response processes. It was found that maritime transportation offers advantages such as rapid access, high capacity, and cost efficiency during disasters. However, infrastructure deficiencies, inadequacies in preparedness processes, and coordination issues emerge as major challenges that prevent ports from operating at full capacity during disaster situations. This study highlights the need for specific measures to enhance the role of maritime transportation in disaster management. It is recommended to improve port infrastructure, strengthen logistics coordination, and incorporate maritime transportation more comprehensively into disaster management plans. Future research should conduct comparative analyses with ports in different regions, explore the integration of maritime transportation with other logistics methods in greater detail, and include field studies with real-case analyses.