Comparative advantage of Turkey in freight transportation sector: In comparison with bric countries

Abstract

Technological developments, increase of the international competition, reduction of the transportation costs and tariffs cause the realization of each process in a different country by dividing the production activities into smaller sub-processes having different factor intensity. This case increases the importance of the services sector, especially of the logistics and transportation services which have significant share in the services sector. Turkey with the geograghical position advantage it has being located on the intersection of the international transport corridors passing through Europe and Asia creates an important force of competition in the transportation sector. Starting from this idea, in the study, it has been aimed to reveal the competitiveness of the transportation sector in Turkey with the RCA (Revealed Comparative Advantage) index. In addition to this, the comparison of the competitiveness of the transportation sector which has gained importance with recently increased trade volume in Brazil, Russia, India and China which are referred to as BRIC countries has been aimed. In terms of international competitiveness, it is thought that the comparative analysis with these countries will play a guiding role in determination of the policies towards the future. In this context, firstly, the issues of competitiveness and comparative advantage will be mentioned and then, the general situation analysis of the transportion sector in Turkey and the BRIC countries will be included. Finally, assessments will be made by calculating the RCA index related with the transportion sector for Turkey and the BRIC countries.