Mesuring the quality of service in maritime businesses: An application in Hopa Port

Today, highway, airway, railway, maritime and pipeline are used in the transportation system. It is known that maritime transportation has the highest share among these transportation of types. Maritime transport; It is a type of transportation that expresses the network that constitutes the ports visited by sea vehicles in national and international waters, as well as the infrastructure of transportation elements from factories to terminals and from there to distribution points and existing markets. Now a days, approximately 90% of world trade is carried out by sea. The position of maritime enterprises in the national economy makes them advantageous in an increasingly competitive environment. Businesses need to attach great importance to service quality in an increasingly competitive environment. It is thought that the satisfaction of service users will increase and the satisfaction will turn into loyalty in maritime businesses with a high perception of quality. Based on its importance and this idea, the aim of this study is to examine the quality of the services offered in maritime businesses, the satisfaction of the users who benefiting from this service, and the effect of satisfaction on loyalty. For this purpose, face-to-face survey technique was preferred in order to collect data from users receiving service from Hopa Port. According to the results obtained in the research, it has been determined that the most effective service quality variable over satisfaction is the process dimension. According to the results obtained in the research, it was determined that the most effective service quality variable on satisfaction was the process dimension, and then social responsibility, output and image dimensions were effective respectively. The effect of the satisfaction variable on loyalty was also found to be significant.