Strategic choice for Istanbul: A domestic or international orientation for logistics?

The geographical location of Turkey in general, and Istanbul in particular, in a wider region encompassing the Black Sea, Balkans, Caucasus and Middle East provides an absolute advantage for the city to become an important international logistics node. Recent research has also identified Turkey as the fifth largest logistics market in the world. Therefore, promoting Istanbul as a logistics center of international importance has been high on the agenda of the Turkish central government, city authorities, and interest groups in recent years. To achieve this aim, local and central governments have been sponsoring new infrastructural projects to strengthen the position of the city as a world-class logistics center. However, other research has pointed to serious problems resulting from legislative shortcomings, lack of coordination among public bodies, mistakes in implementation, and insufficiencies in infrastructure and human capital. This article is based on a research project involving logistics firms in Istanbul designed to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of Istanbul in its quest to become as a logistics center serving a wider region beyond Turkey. The results of the interviews and survey have shown that today, logistics activity in the Marmara region (and Istanbul in particular) is mainly the result of economic activities taking place in a national context, rather than the result of entrepot or logistics node operations at a regional or global level. In the promotional literature of public authorities, nevertheless, 'links with Turkic republics' and 'a bridge between Europe and Asia' are repeatedly referred to, despite their diminishing relevance to the operational requirements of Turkish logistics companies. Bureaucratic and legislative implementation deficiencies, and consequent transport shortcomings seem to occupy a more concrete and higher place on their agenda for the growth of logistics service provision. Policy formation needs to recognize this ordering of priorities in order to integrate economic and urban planning more effectively. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved