Determinants of Operational Efficiency at Chemical Cargo Terminals

In today’s globalized world, one of the requirements of global supply chains is efficient transportation systems. Approximately 80 per cent of world merchandise trade carried by sea and handled by ports worldwide. For this reason, maritime transport has the strategic economic importance. Loading of oil and gas has the biggest share (%30) in commodities carried by sea and 2.9 billion tons oil and gas loaded to ship in 2013. This study is focus on chemical cargo terminals which is a special terminal form where high and international levels of safety and quality elements applied. Unlike conventional bulk cargo and container cargo operations, chemical cargo operations include own priorities, applications, and the evaluation criteria. The aim of this study is to perform a qualitative research to determine the factors affecting the operational efficiency of ship, berth and warehousing operations in chemical cargo terminals.