Comparative analysis of ports of İzmir, Piraeus, Constanţa and Novorossiysk in terms of importances in national and international trade relations

This research aims for determining the level and the way of impacts of the ports mentioned to their areas and countries in terms of trade, analyzing the conditions of the current and possible ports and terminal facilities, understanding the differences of the advantageous and disadvantageous features of the ports mentioned and contributing to the suggestions about the actions that should be taken further. In the first part, ports and port related definitions, classifying explanations and the terminology used were referred in order to state the fundamentals of maritime transportation. Ports and terminals were classified in terms of different cargoes handled. Import and export services of ports of İzmir, Piraeus, Constanţa and Novorossiysk were referred in terms of their historical and socio-cultural importances in their areas. When the periods between 2011 and 2015 are studied, in contrast to the fact that the shares of the ports mentioned in their countries' imports and exports services rose, a decline in the year of 2015 was observed. In the second part, the world maritime transportation was evaluated generally. Information about the maritime transportations of Turkey, Greece, Romania and Russian Federation where the ports mentioned belongs to was given and the shares of those countries in the world seaborne trade was evaluated. In contrast to the other transportation modes, maritime transportation was developed in the countries that are mentioned. In the conclusion part, by making comparative analysis of the ports mentioned in terms of their technical features and the cargoes handled, the advantageous and disadvantageous features of these ports were emphasized and a deep evaluation about the levels of contributions to their economies was made. The fact that the importances of ports of Piraeus and Constanţa in terms of their contrubutions to their countries' economical developments is higher than ports of İzmir's and Novorossiysk's contributions to their countries may be concluded.