Competitiveness of the selected southern baltic seaports based on their logistic capabilities

The presented study comes as the final and extended report on the research project The Construction and Verification of an Original Model of the Logistic Potential of a Commercial Seaport as a Tool for the Assessment of Competitiveness of Ports in the Southern Baltic Sea Region, with the Use of Analytic Hierarchy Process (the AHP Method), carried out by the employees of the Baltic Centre of Applied Logistics (Bałtycki Ośrodek Logistyki Stosowanej) at the WSB University in Gdańsk (Poland) in cooperation with CPL (Competence in Ports and Logistics Wenzel, Heine & Kollegen a consultancy firm which provides a vast expertise in the field of maritime logistics, ports and hinterland traffic) and the Fachhochschule Stralsund from Germany.
The research team members concentrated their efforts on the seaports of the Polish coast and selected German ports, such as the Port of Gdańsk, the Port of Gdynia and the Ports of Szczecin-Świnoujście as well as the Port of Rostock and the Port of Lubeck. For the first time in such research the measurement of the competitiveness of the above-mentioned ports has been performed on the basis of their logistic capabilities by the construction of a hierarchical model. Within that framework, the global preferences for such a model are originally defined, that is namely: the criteria (Ci log ), sub-criteria (Sij) and diagnostic features (Dijk) which form the logistic capabilities of a seaport. The significant elements of the study are the tools, which have been applied in the process of selecting indispensable information, and the assessment of logistic capabilities presented by the analysed entities. They are included in the publication as the appendices.
Entire research design is innovative, as the competitiveness assessment of the surveyed entities results from the innovative classification of the assessment criteria, which, in turn, springs from the systematic and process-based approach to the flow of cargo and cargo handling processes. After some modification, which takes the specific character of other areas into consideration, the assumed method may become a basis for the development of a universal tool for the assessment of seaport competitiveness.