TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS SECURITY IN LANDLOCKED ECONOMIES: CONSTRAINTS, VULNERABILITIES, AND DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGIES

Landlocked economies depend on neighbours for every tonne that reaches the sea, yet their transport vulnerability is usually described only by distance. This paper asks which constraints and vulnerabilities shape transport and logistics security in landlocked economies, and how far diversification strategies have reduced them. Using a qualitative-comparative design in the IMRAD format, it synthesises scholarly studies and institutional reports, and compares five cases chosen for contrast: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Bolivia. Evidence is coded against three dimensions (route concentration, reliability and governance, diversification progress) and three risk types (neighbour dependence, natural hazard, external shock). The evidence indicates that (i) vulnerability follows concentration on one route or mode: about 90% of Ethiopia's international trade passes through Djibouti, and about 80% of Paraguay's grain exports moved by river in early 2024, when the river fell to 0.74 metres; (ii) diversification is real but gradual, as Bolivia's exports via Chile fell from 74.4% to 63.4% between 2018 and 2020 while Peru's share rose to 13.3%; and (iii) corridor investment in Central Asia raises transit volumes without removing dependence on neighbours' infrastructure and administration. The paper concludes that landlocked transport security depends on route choice, reliability and regional cooperation together, not on distance or infrastructure alone, and it proposes a harmonised panel for formal testing.