Flag Choice Behavior in the Turkish Merchant Fleet: A Model Proposal with Artificial Neural Network Approach

Shipping companies have to take several strategic decisions about the vessels that perform transportation activities. The most important of these strategic decisions is “Flag Choice”. This decision given by the company is shaped under the light of external and internal factors. In this paper, initially, the factors which affect flag choice decision of shipping companies and ship owners who play an important role to handle Turkish merchant fleet are determined. Then, the relation and association status of the factors which have significant impacts on this decision are displayed with data mining application. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) application is realized with the obtained outputs and a model is proposed for flag selection decision. It is expected that the results of the study provides certain outcomes and guidelines for related organizations dealing with shipping operations as well as suggestions for effective and efficient coordination among the relevant institutions.