Evaluation of Balkan maritime container terminals’ security

Balkan seaports are gaining an increasingly significant role in global commodity flows. However, the Balkan countries’ lower level of economic development compared to the rest of Europe, the high level of corruption, the stormy political and security situation in the region, etc. led to the fact that the Balkan ports became fertile ground for criminal activities. Accordingly, this research aims to analyze, evaluate, and rank Balkan ports from the aspect of security when serving container transport flows. The research included nine Balkan ports from seven countries. Their security is evaluated from different aspects, concerning a larger number of different criteria. To solve it, a hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) model which combines the Best-Worst Method (BWM) for determining the weights of criteria and the Axial Distance-based Aggregated Measurement (ADAM) method for the final ranking of alternatives is proposed in this paper. The importance of this research is in identifying ports that can become a benchmark for other ports in terms of procedures, security assessments, implementation of measures to prevent corruption, and systems to improve security. The results indicate that the safest Balkan ports are Koper, Piraeus and Rijeka, followed by Constanta, Ploče, Thessaloniki, Varna, Bar and Durrës. Balkan port security ranking benefits traders, governments, investors, international organizations, and civil society by informing decisions, directing resources, and promoting transparency for improved maritime security.