Benchmarking Analysis of Factors Influencing Container Traffic in the Port of Rijeka

Abstract

Traditionally, ports have been regarded as hubs responsible for the reception of ships and passengers, but nowadays they have a much wider economic function, being clusters of various activities directly or indirectly linked to maritime transportation and seaborne trade, among which container traffic is the most important segment. The Port of Rijeka as the largest Croatian cargo port, positioned in the North Adriatic Sea, has exceptional but not fully exploited opportunities for further economic development of importance not just for the port and the city but for the Republic of Croatia as well. In addition, its geostrategic position makes it an important international port for Central and South Eastern European countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate and identify the current position of the Port of Rijeka (hereinafter Rijeka) in relation to the container business and, using Benchmarking as the research method, to analyse the established five main factors that have to be taken into consideration where its efficiency is compared to the statistically proven “best container port” in the region – the Port of Koper (hereinafter Koper). The results show significant competitive advantages of the Port of Koper almost in any of the analysed factors. Therefore, recommendations are given for further actions and improvement according to the natural advantages that Rijeka has to utilize in order to enhance its competitiveness and overall performance.

Maritime container terminal service quality in the face of COVID-19 outbreak

“…In the modern complex economy, the maritime trade has an undisputed role, which is expressed in the quantity of cargo transported by the sea -around 11 billion tons in 2018, which accounts almost for 80% of global merchandise trade [36,48]. The average pace of growth in the volume of merchandise trade in the period 2008-2018 was 2,5% and the average world economic growth was 2,3% [48,51].…”

Impact of the COVID–19 on Container Ships Efficiency

“…In today's economy, maritime trade plays an irreplaceable role, which is expressed in the amount of goods transported by sea -about 11 billion tonnes in recent years, which accounts for about 80 % of the global trade in goods [7]. Global trade in containers has grown by about 55 % in the last ten years, on average by about 5 % per year [8].…”

Ports Digitalization Level Evaluation

“…A benchmarking approach is often used by seaports while developing operational and financial performance to derive useful insights in order to improve their functioning [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. For example, this method was used to investigate the current position of the Port of Rijeka (hereinafter Rijeka) in relation to the container business [ 20 ]. Marketing research methods are widely used to collect the data needed for in-depth analysis [ 67 ].…”

“…Evaluation of digitalization level of ports as nodes of sea–land transport chains may be helpful in finding rational solutions for digital systems development. It also gives the opportunity to compare ports’ operation and use evaluation analysis to select the ports with best practices that may be implemented in other ports [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Such approach may be applied by seaports in planning digital systems development, including small and medium-sized ports [ 21 ].…”