The relationship analysis for transportation networks in development of maritime trade: An aplication on Turkey-Germany-China

There has been a steady increase in the trade between Asia and Europe. A great majority of products in some industries are produced in the Far East, for as they provide certain cost advantages, and directly exported to Europe. In some other industries, however, the final stages of production are completed in the consumer markets that are completed in the consumer markets that are, in this case, Europe itself or the regions close to Europe. The basic reason behind this practice is that completing all stages of production at the origin would not be advantageous for the producer as the products would gain further weight and volume. A similar practice is experienced in Turkey as well, i.e., certain semi-finished products are provided from Far East; they are completed and turned into final products in plants in Turkey and then exported to Europe. The purpose of this research is to carry out an analysis aiming to clarify whether Turkey could be a logistics center, contributing to the promotion of the maritime trade by utilizing the transport networks passing within and around it, through which the semi-finished and various other products originated from China could be distributed or turned into finished products and then shipped to Germany. Concerning site selection decision making, particularly in making decisions on selecting places for plants and distribution centers, a number of qualitative and quantitative methods are utilized. This study considers the site selection theories as bases for the research. The aim behind using a multi-staged methodology is to measure to what extent Turkey has a potential to be a logistics center on the transport networks. First, to test whether Turkey is located at a location between China and Germany in terms of transport costs, an operational research approach, the Center of Gravity Method, is used. Second, to determine the variables related with selecting places for logistics centers on the transport networks, along with utilizing the relevant literature review, certain interviews are carried out, with representatives of container shipping lines? agencies as well as industrial and trade companies. Besides, using the variables determined through such qualitativeresearches, a field study is carried out in a sample of Turkey based container shipping, logistics and foreign trade companies. Furthermore, through this research, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania are compared in terms of the variables regarding site selection for logistics centers. The data received through the field study has been subject to further relationship analysis as the frequency analysis, factor analysis, regression analysis and also comparative analysis. Throughout this research, the potential of Turkey to be a logistics center the on the China-Germany transport networks is examined and the likely effects of this potential on the promotion of maritime trade are analyzed with descriptive and exploratory researches.