Comparative analysis of the Turkish and European Union passenger ferry market in the eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

This thesis covers Turkish and EU maritime policies for the passenger ferry industries. It concentrateso n the positioning of ferry operatorsi n the passengefre rry market in the Eastern Mediterranean. A general background to Turkey and to its maritime industry is drawn before developing a model. A positioning model is developed in a quantitative approach to this research. Furthermore, it is operationalised by using the Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) Technique within multivariate analysis. A specific programme, MDPREF, from the MDS(X) Series of MDS Programmes is used for the calculation and illustration of the analysis. The Positionso f the Turkish and EU passengerfe rry operatorsi n the EasternM editerranean are measured and identified, within the positioning model, by data and information from the operators, for 1994, that were received from questionnaires and data files. The data and information are based on the "7P"s of the service marketing mix, which are product, price, place,p romotion, people,p hysical evidencea nd process,s incep assengefre rry operationsa re widely considered to be services for people. The resultso f the analysisi ndicatet he positionso f the Turkish and EU passengefre rry market in the EasternM editerraneanw ith the Turkish and EU operatorsg rouping togethera t different places in the market place. An exception is made by one of the EU operators illustrating similarity with the Turkish operators by positioning its place close to them in the market place.I t was also discoveredt hat only the Greeko peratorsa ppeart o representt he EU because Greece is an EU country and there were no operators other than the Greeks in 1994. However Greeced oesn ot totally reflect the characteristicso f the EU maritime policy. The discussionc oncludest hat the EasternM editerraneanp assengefre rry market is a dynamic and a growing market with potential points for further research.

Date of Award	1997
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Plymouth