Green marketing practices in container ports: The case of South Marmara

One of the most important issues today is sustainability. Sustainability has become very important in the maritime sector, as in every sector. Especially in the last 20 years, the increase in the use of ports due to the impact of globalization and the increasing environmental pollution have increased the importance of sustainable practices in port operations. As the importance of sustainable practices in ports increases, green marketing strategies have become more important and preferred by port operators. In this context, green marketing tools have become one of the most important tools of the sustainability principle in container ports. The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether the ports, which are the center of the maritime sector, carry out their marketing activities in an environmentally sensitive manner. This study focuses on green product, green price, green distribution and green promotion activities in container ports. What kind of transformations occurred in the transition to green marketing in container ports, how environmental impacts were tried to be minimized, what kind of advantages were provided in terms of social, economic and ecological aspects, what activities were carried out in ports in terms of green price, green promotion and distribution and future predictions regarding this were investigated and analyzed. As a result of the research, it was determined that the container ports in Southern Marmara focus on sustainable mission and vision strategies, green port operations are supported by state regulations and legal support, digitalization is generally carried out through automation systems, investments are made in equipment that consumes biodiesel energy in port operations to minimize the negative impact on the environment, there is no price determination strategy for environmental awareness in the ports, and the ports contribute to branding as a company by increasing customer loyalty thanks to green promotion. In general, it was concluded that the container ports in Southern Marmara are environmentally sensitive in carrying out green marketing activities. Qualitative analysis method was used in the study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with port managers using semi-structured interview technique and green marketing practices on container ports in the Southern Marmara Region were investigated and evaluated. Coding was also done using the Maxqda software system