ABSTRACT
The Black Sea port system is generally considered as a secondary port system in the European port scene. Though located next to the East Med ports, it is not situated along the main east-west shipping routes, due to the existence of the Bosporus Strait, which forms a nautical link between the two seas. This chapter addresses shipping dynamics in the Black Sea with a specific focus on internal and external connectivity dynamics, with reference to the wider field of network analysis. It introduces a network-related concept, namely vulnerability, which better describes how certain port nodes grow at the expense of others. The chapter investigated the changing internal and external trends affecting the past and evolution of the Black Sea port system and liner shipping network. It provides mixed evidence, such as the observed growth of direct calls vs. feeder, which is reflected in the gradual increase of the Liner Shipping Connectivity Index but not in the other analyses.
