Competitiveness of the North Adriatic Ports in Various Cargo Flows on Selected Transport Routes

The functioning of the entire cargo flow process within atransport system lies on the assumption that the operation of allthe factors involved in the transport chain has been analysedwith the aim of bringing them in harmony and obtaining acompetitive price and high quality transportation service.Within the narrow catchment area, the ports of Trieste, Koper,and Rijeka have operated as competitors. All of them gravitateto the same natural hinterland, yet each of them operating onthe market with quite a different approach. In assessing thecompetitiveness of a certain transportation route involving hubports, land communications with the hinterland, and size of thecatchment area, the factors like port charges, inland transportcharges, and time required, are considered essential determinantsfor the selection of an optimum transportation route. Inorder to assess the overall competitiveness of a certain port regardingvarious factors involved (port charges, railway transportcharges, and time required), and comparing it with anotherport competitiveness level, this paper proposes that a collectivecompetitiveness index be introduced. The model isaimed at sorting out the most competitive ports according tocertain sorts of goods on the selected transportation routes.