The transnational territorial transport system of the Baltic Region

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the structure and territorial borders of the Baltic Sea region, and examine the key structural elements of the transnational territorial transport system. In this respect, we clarify some terms used in transport geography. For the first time the transport system gets territorially localized, which allows for a broad range of new studies of transnational transportation in the Baltic Sea area. We also identify the main principles of development and operation of international territorial transport systems and present them taking the Baltic Sea region as an example. Our findings, we hope, will have a great practical application for researchers of transport geography, especially those studying international logistics

An Assessment of the Availability of Transport Infrastructure Objects in the Baltic Region

“…Despite the multitude of academic approaches to identifying the borders and composition of the macroregion, almost all researchers are unanimous in that the macroregion is a complex coherent region, which makes it possible to identify and study individual regions specialising in certain industries (Федоров, Зверев, Кореевец, 2008). Our earlier works, as well as those published by our colleagues from the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Gumenyuk, Melnik, 2012;Мельник, 2012;Gumeniuk, 2013), justify the identification of the Baltic transnational transport region (BTTR) as a fullyfledged research object. The effective functioning of the BTTR as a unified international transport system requires that all constituent territories of the region secure high availability of transport infrastructure objects and that the elements of transport infrastructure interact according to clear rules and supplement each other.…”

“…According to the composition and borders of the Baltic transnational transport region (BTTR) identified in earlier publications (Gumenyuk, Melnik, 2012;Мельник, 2012;Gumeniuk, 2013), the structure of the BTTR mesoregions is as follows (table 1 and figure 1). Source: compiled by the authors on the basis of Eurostat, 2013;Federal'naja sluzhba gosudarstvennoj statistiki, 2013 We have identified 38 mesolevel territories within the BTTR, which will be used as units of analysis when considering the transport infrastructure availability.…”

Transit in Regional Economic Development: The Case of the Kaliningrad Exclave

“…Transportation is one of the sectors with a significant potential for the transformation of a regional economic development model, as shown by a retrospective analysis (Macheret and Epishkin, 2017) and numerous empirical and theoretical studies (Wang et al ., 2018). Furthermore, the importance of transportation for a transit territory increases both as it provides growing regional accessibility, investment and trade opportunities and its active involvement in cross-border processes that opens the possibility of its further integration into cross-border functional (transport) territorial systems (Gumenyuk and Melnik, 2013).…”