WEF assessed competitive strength of the Black Sea transport infrastructure

Beginning from 1979, the World Economic Forum (WEF) publishes the global competitive strength rating annually, which is based on open source data and takes into account expert opinion from more than 100 countries of the world, reports UkrAgroConsult.

In the overall ranking of 140 countries, Ukraine advanced from the 89th place in 2017 to the 83rd place in 2018. The index includes 12 segments and one of them is the country's infrastructure, which includes an assessment of the transport infrastructure and port sector.

According to WEF, the quality of Ukrainian transport infrastructure is estimated at 54.5 points out of 100, which is equivalent to the 55th position in the overall standings. Other countries of the Black Sea region took the following places: 52nd – for Russia, 64th – for Bulgaria and 58th – for Romania. Thus, Ukraine maintains a strong position among the Black Sea countries, second only to Russia.

Considering the assessment of transport infrastructure in more detail, it is worth highlighting 3 parameters as the most relevant for the agricultural logistics of the country – assessment of roads’ quality, efficiency of railroad transportation and effectiveness of seaport services.

If we compare the Black Sea countries, very low assessment of Ukrainian roads quality is immediately obvious. Efficiency of railroad transportation in Russia received the highest score in the Black Sea region reaching 4.9 points out of possible 7. This year, Ukraine has shown an increase in railway’s efficiency traffic after 5 years of gradual decline in the WEF estimates.

In all the countries which were assessed, the port sector showed an increase. Given the 7-point scale they were the following: Ukraine - 3.8 points (77th place in the world), Romania - 3.9 points (73rd place), Bulgaria - 4.2 points (63rd place) and Russia - 4.6 points (45th place).