CONTAINER’S TERMINAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS AND ITS REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS-DURRES CASE

Container terminals are important part of the supply chain management. The evolution of the supply chain management and logistic models has made these terminals a key factor in the functioning of the SCM. Transporting goods by containers is a general global trend. Today more than 90% of all goods is transported by sea and containers are a continuous growing business. According to UNCTAD (2018), containers traffic grew by 2,6% in 2018(1) measured in 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), thus showing a slowdown from 6,6% in 2017. In our region the containers are rapidly replacing the transportation of general cargoes transported by conventional vessels and the number of TEU that is arriving/departing the region reaches more than 5 million, and a certain percentage of this volume (15-20%) reaches the area through South and South-West located Balkan ports. Durres port is one of the region's port handling containers among other cargoes. Together with ports of Thessaloniki, Greece and Bar Montenegro, Durres Port through its Container's Terminal, is serving the South West Balkan region markets such as Albania, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia and Montenegro This paper aims at analysing the competitiveness of Durres Port Container Terminal in the regional market and its ability to expand its hinterland in container services through comparing its performance indicators. The methodology used to analyze the competitiveness of Durres port, is through comparative analyses. In this study the AHP (analytical hierarchy process) has been used in order to analyze the key performance indicators of the terminals of the regions and compare their competitiveness. Conclusions: Durres port is the main port of Albania and containers handling is a relatively new operation in Durres. The terminal is suffering lack of sufficient space to handle the traffic, water depths are limited, the lack of regional links to the markets of the region, such as rail links, makes the competitiveness ability of the terminal limited therefore the port should seek solutions through addressing the above limitations and restrictions in order to be more competitive on the region.