IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2023i1p272-d1308797.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Transport Trends on Sustainability in the Western Balkans: A Future-Oriented Business Sector Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Tomislav Letnik

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

  • Katja Hanžič

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

  • Matej Mencinger

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

  • Drago Sever

    (Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

Abstract

This study examines the impact of emerging transport trends on the Western Balkans and their potential to improve the sustainability and efficiency of the transport sector in the region. In the context of global efforts to reduce environmental impacts and improve transport safety, the study aims to better understand the perspective of the business sector in order to align strategic planning for the introduction of new transport technologies and practices with the expectations of the business sector. Using a questionnaire-based survey on the Mentimeter platform, the study gathers insights from 49 transport and logistics experts. The analysis uses violin plots and heat maps to visualise the expected impact of the identified trends. The results show a consensus among the experts that the emerging trends are likely to lead to a reduction in accidents, congestion, and emissions, while at the same time increasing operating costs and investment in infrastructure. In particular, trends such as alternative fuels, electrification, and smart city initiatives are highlighted as important drivers for reducing emissions. The study concludes that while these trends are likely to lead to the achievement of environmental and safety goals, they also lead to economic challenges as operating costs increase and significant infrastructure investment is required. The study emphasises the need for strategic investment, policy adjustments, and capacity building to lead the Western Balkans towards a sustainable transport future.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomislav Letnik & Katja Hanžič & Matej Mencinger & Drago Sever, 2023. "Impact of Transport Trends on Sustainability in the Western Balkans: A Future-Oriented Business Sector Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:272-:d:1308797
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/272/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/272/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grazia Speranza, M., 2018. "Trends in transportation and logistics," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(3), pages 830-836.
    2. Angelidou, M. & Politis, C. & Panori, A. & Bakratsas, T. & Fellnhofer, K., 2022. "Emerging smart city, transport and energy trends in urban settings: Results of a pan-European foresight exercise with 120 experts," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    3. Chen, Wei & Klaiber, H. Allen, 2020. "Does road expansion induce traffic? An evaluation of Vehicle-Kilometers Traveled in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    4. Lee, Hye-Jeong & Yoo, Seung-Hoon & Lim, Sesil & Huh, Sung-Yoon, 2023. "External benefits of a road transportation system with vehicle-to-everything communications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 128-138.
    5. Rezaei, Jafar & van Roekel, Wilco S. & Tavasszy, Lori, 2018. "Measuring the relative importance of the logistics performance index indicators using Best Worst Method," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 158-169.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feng, Jianghong & Guo, Ping & Xu, Guangyi & Xu, Gangyan & Ning, Yu, 2024. "An integrated decision framework for resilient sustainable waste electric vehicle battery recycling transfer station site selection," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 373(C).
    2. Christian Wankmüller & Maximilian Kunovjanek & Robert Gennaro Sposato & Gerald Reiner, 2020. "Selecting E-Mobility Transport Solutions for Mountain Rescue Operations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Dilupa Nakandala & Yung Po Tsang & Henry Lau & Carman Ka Man Lee, 2022. "An Industrial Blockchain-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Framework for Global Freight Management in Agricultural Supply Chains," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(19), pages 1-23, September.
    4. Gürler, Hasan Emin & Özçalıcı, Mehmet & Pamucar, Dragan, 2024. "Determining criteria weights with genetic algorithms for multi-criteria decision making methods: The case of logistics performance index rankings of European Union countries," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger, 2022. "The Roadmap to Smart Cities: A Bibliometric Literature Review on Smart Cities’ Trends before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Hrabec, Dušan & Hvattum, Lars Magnus & Hoff, Arild, 2022. "The value of integrated planning for production, inventory, and routing decisions: A systematic review and meta-analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    7. Mustafa Polat & Karahan Kara & Avni Zafer Acar, 2023. "Competitiveness based logistics performance index: An empirical analysis in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, , vol. 24(2-3), pages 97-119, June.
    8. Sangita Choudhary & Anil Kumar & Sunil Luthra & Jose Arturo Garza‐Reyes & Simon Peter Nadeem, 2020. "The adoption of environmentally sustainable supply chain management: Measuring the relative effectiveness of hard dimensions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3104-3122, December.
    9. Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger, 2024. "Smart City and Energy: A Bibliometric Review of the Smart City and Smart Energy Concept from the Perspective of the Bioclimatic Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-21, May.
    10. Liu, Weihua & Wang, Siyu & Lin, Yong & Xie, Dong & Zhang, Jiahui, 2020. "Effect of intelligent logistics policy on shareholder value: Evidence from Chinese logistics companies," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    11. Margaretha Gansterer & Richard F. Hartl, 2021. "The Prisoners’ Dilemma in collaborative carriers’ request selection," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 29(1), pages 73-87, March.
    12. Mevlut Uyan & Jarosław Janus & Ela Ertunç, 2023. "Land Use Suitability Model for Grapevine ( Vitis vinifera L.) Cultivation Using the Best Worst Method: A Case Study from Ankara/Türkiye," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, August.
    13. İbrahim Halil Korkmaz & Erkan Alsu & Eren Özceylan & Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber, 2020. "Job analysis and time study in logistic activities: a case study in packing and loading processes," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 28(2), pages 733-760, June.
    14. Zhuo Chen & Kang Tian, 2022. "Optimization of Evaluation Indicators for Driver’s Traffic Literacy: An Improved Principal Component Analysis Method," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    15. Ninja Soeffker & Marlin W. Ulmer & Dirk C. Mattfeld, 2019. "Adaptive State Space Partitioning for Dynamic Decision Processes," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 61(3), pages 261-275, June.
    16. Junming Liu & Weiwei Chen & Jingyuan Yang & Hui Xiong & Can Chen, 2022. "Iterative Prediction-and-Optimization for E-Logistics Distribution Network Design," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 34(2), pages 769-789, March.
    17. Sindi, Safaa & Woodman, Roger, 2021. "Implementing commercial autonomous road haulage in freight operations: An industry perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 235-253.
    18. Marlin W. Ulmer, 2020. "Horizontal combinations of online and offline approximate dynamic programming for stochastic dynamic vehicle routing," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 28(1), pages 279-308, March.
    19. Manu Sharma & Deepak Kaushal & Sudhanshu Joshi, 2023. "Strategic measures for enhancing resiliency in knowledge base supply chains: an emerging economy perspective," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 1185-1205, September.
    20. Ulutaş Alptekin & Karaköy Çağatay, 2019. "An analysis of the logistics performance index of EU countries with an integrated MCDM model," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 5(4), pages 49-69, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:272-:d:1308797. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.