It is of great importance for manufacturers and consumers that raw materials and products can be delivered on time without any disruption in the supply chain. The fact that production chains can be located in more than one country in the globalized world makes the smooth operation of the supply chain partially difficult. For this reason, especially suppliers may stop doing business with countries where geopolitical risk is high, and this may change the container traffic of countries. Therefore, this study empirically tests whether geopolitical risks change the container volumes of countries. Our sample includes 15 of the 19 countries in the world for which the geopolitical risk index is calculated because some values of the excluded countries are missing. The countries included are Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, and Türkiye in alphabetical order. The period covered consists of 21 observations annually, covering the years between 2000 and 2020. The asymmetric causality test method was applied to consider the possible asymmetrical consequences of the geopolitical risk on the container trade in the countries. The panel causality test results obtained show that positive shocks in geopolitical risk cause negative shocks in container traffic. These results show that the security and stability of the countries around them are critical for the country's economy, as well as the security and stability of the countries themselves. Countries that want to grow commercially should develop their policies by considering regional security and stability.

Demand for the transport sector is a derived demand; however, the transport sector is not only affected by the demand for the goods transported, but can also influence demand for itself by providing more transport facilities, which can affect trade by generating more options for foreign trade stakeholders. Accordingly, we have examined the effect of the Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) variable, which is an indicator of countries' liner transportation connectivity, on Turkey's export and import container traffic, by using regression analysis. We have enriched our model by adding the real exchange rate variable, which is the most important factor affecting foreign trade. Our results show that a 1% increase in the country's LSCI increases export and import container traffic by approximately 1%. This result shows that not only exchange rate and production policies, but also transportation policies, are critical in improving foreign trade of the country. The development of transportation facilities can both reduce transport costs and shorten the delivery time, thereby supporting Turkey's policies to become a production centre.

The current study predicts the future course of ships passing through the İstanbul Strait. In this direction, considering that the world economy is the biggest factor in the demand for maritime transport, the relationship between the GDPs and trade volumes of the Black Sea states, and ship traffic is analyzed using regression estimation in two separate models. The included countries are Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Then, considering the growth forecasts published by the IMF for the relevant states, it was estimated how much an increase in traffic would be in 2026 compared to 2020. Considering the coefficients obtained from the two models, in 2026, the GDP model proposes a 20.02% increase, and the trade volume model proposes a 28.8% increase in ship tonnage passing the strait. These results reveal the importance and necessity of strategies and projects developed to regulate the rise in strait traffic.

The determination of freight rates in liner shipping is influenced by the market dynamics and the strategic decisions of shipping alliances. This study investigates the effect of non-alliance tonnage on freight rates along the Asia–North America West Coast route, employing a quantile regression method. A dataset covering July 2021 to June 2023 was used, with bunker prices and the Dow Jones Index serving as control variables. The results reveal that the non-alliance share has a significant and negative impact on lower quantiles, suggesting that enhanced competition reduces freight rates when the prices are low. In contrast, this effect disappears at higher freight levels. Bunker prices and the stock market index also exhibit varying effects, depending on the quantile, with demand-side variables being more influential during low-freight conditions. These findings suggest that market concentration affects price-setting power, and quantile-based approaches offer deeper insights into these complex relationships than linear models. These insights contribute to the sustainable development of maritime transport by promoting fair competition, improving pricing transparency, and supporting efficient policy interventions in global liner shipping.

In this study, risk perception and the impact of various environmental factors on accidents involving fishing vessels in small-scale fishing vessels during navigation were examined. Thirty fishing vessel captains from Çeşmealtı and İskele fishing ports evaluated the risks of environmental conditions under different scenarios in the bridge navigation simulator based on the Fine-Kinney risk assessment method. Nonparametric (Mann-Whitney U-test) and parametric tests (Pearson correlation and independent-samples t-test) were performed to analyse other related parameters. The study also conducted a small questionnaire study that included questions such as the number of past accidents by fishermen and the number of engine rudder failures. According to the sum of the fishermen's assessments, reduced visibility was the highest factor increasing the probability and consequences of accidents in sea navigation, while they identified night and heavy weather conditions as the highest factor in port navigation. Fishermen also found navigating their ports safer than sea navigation. There is a significant, positive, and strong correlation between the number of fishermen’s accidents and the number of engine rudder failures (p=0.047, r=0.714), the perception of accident probabilities in port navigating with restricted visibility (p=0.027, r=0.726) and in port navigation at night and in heavy weather (p=0.003, r=0.866). According to the results of the study, using the outcomes of the pre-fishing environmental risk assessment, the competent maritime authorities may be able to take effective measures to prevent the occurrence of serious marine casualties.

El intenso comercio entre China y Europa aumenta la competencia entre los países del Mediterráneo, el Egeo y el Mar Negro en rutas alternativas. Para obtener una participación significativa de este sector, la conectividad a las redes de transporte debe ser adecuada. El indicador más importante desarrollado para medir la conectividad es el Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI). Al utilizar este índice, se pueden hacer inferencias sobre posibles competidores al determinar qué diferencias de países divergen o convergen en el largo plazo. En la investigación se creó una muestra de los vecinos y competidores de Türkiye en el transporte marítimo, que incluye a Bulgaria, Egipto, Georgia, Grecia, Israel, Líbano, Rumania, Rusia y Ucrania. Para comprobar la convergencia probamos la raíz unitaria utilizando las diferencias logarítmicas de los valores LSCI de Türkiye y otros países. Los países que convergen con Türkiye son Bulgaria, Líbano, Rumania y Ucrania. Dado que los valores medios del LSCI de los países convergentes son inferiores a los de Türkiye, se convertirán en posibles competidores en la región. Egipto y Grecia están divergiendo y su papel dominante en la región continuará. Sería beneficioso para Türkiye fortalecer su infraestructura en rutas de transporte alternativas, así como en transporte marítimo.