Port governance in Turkey: The age of the global terminal operators

Abstract

This paper investigates port governance in Turkey from the point of institutional economics and industrial organization. As a newly industrialized country, Turkey still achieves high growth rate and continuous development of global trade. As a result of high volume of trade, the role of ports raises its importance, and it attracts global investors in the port business. Turkey has focused on port devolution in the last two decades, and both domestic and global investors have been authorized to establish new port facilities as well as operating existing ports. Meanwhile, the national logistics industry has achieved a great leap which is also improved by the development of port business. Under various national and global circumstances, a synopsis of port governance in Turkey will be discussed from different perspectives including institutional changes and transport policy. This comparative case study particularly focusses on the last two decades in transition of public ports to various forms of private entities. The change of governance scheme is investigated through its impact on cargo traffic (especially containerized cargo) as well as logistics infrastructure in brief.