Introduction
My name is Tim van den Bekerom, a Logistics and Economics student at the NHTV Breda University for Applied Sciences in Breda, Netherlands. After (hopefully) finishing this internship I will have the title of BBA.

My internship
It has always been my goal to spend some time abroad during my study. At NEA they were willing to give me the chance research port and hinterland connections in Turkey. In general, but also a specific case study of the port of Izmir.

Doing this internationally oriented research really pleases me as it will polish my English writing and speaking again as well as a broadening my view of the world in general. I also hope to witness cultural differences first hand. Summarizing all this, I think that it will be a life experience for me of which I can look back at in the future.

During this internship I will be working from NEA’s office in Zoetermeer, Netherlands and I will be doing a lot of theoretical reading at home, as the travelling time from my home to NEA takes 5 hours a day. However, this internship would not be here, if I was not going abroad for a while. Correct, for 6-7 weeks I will be in Turkey on different locations. It is 100% sure that I will be visiting Izmir for approximately 3-4 weeks. And as it seems now, Istanbul and Ankara will also be visited for a 1-2 weeks each.

Description of project

Every port needs efficient storage and transhipment facilities. The comparative advantages of ports, their geographical position and the presence of connections with other transport modalities, make it possible to efficiently and sustainable combine transport flows to the hinterland. A lot of transport companies are established in the port area because of the many logistical activities. These activities do not only consist of typical transport and logistic companies but also banks, insurance companies, lawyer’s offices, and other service providers. The concentration of transport activities in ports increases the efficiency of both the transport and logistical companies and the related services. The result is a cluster of closely related activities that further stimulate the comparative advantages of a port.

The increasing competition in the field of port services, urge ports to expand their business activities into the field of logistics services in order to create the integration of services between port services with logistics services to create added value for their customers. Also for Turkish ports this is an interesting and competitive concept as the business community also would like to have good logistical facilities and excellent business location conditions in Turkish ports.

A market research will be conducted in order to gain a better insight for the Turkish and Dutch 2g@there partners in the development of better integrating Turkish ports with logistic centres.