# Comparative Studies of Major Sea Routes
## 5 Discussion and Conclusions  
The assessment of sea routes is important in many cases, and in cases where it is difficult to use a normal sea route for any reason, it is very important to be able to compare the used sea route with other possible sea routes (alternatives) in order to estimate the necessary additional transportation costs (transportation time, price, and other factors). For such evaluations, it is very important to have relatively simple but reliable comparative methodologies, so research and practical applications of such methodologies are of great importance to both cargo owners and carriers. The methodology presented in this article was tested many times after the beginning of the unstable situation in the Red Sea when ship operators, especially container operators, chose other sea routes. When such changes occur, operators often raise the transportation price without any real basis (clear calculations) and the market adjusts it only after some time. Therefore, clear and relatively simple methodologies are important for both carriers and customers. At the same time, it is necessary to expand this type of research in order to detect the \"weak\" points of any newly developed methodology, so similar research will be important in the future as well because when both the economic and political situation changes, new challenges and factors appear, such as, for example, pandemics, which must be evaluated. The methodology developed and presented in this article is also important from the point of view that it can be adapted to other areas of transport as similar processes take place in road, railway, inland waterways, and air transport. Of course, each field of transport has its own specifics, so you cannot mechanically \"transfer\" any methodology created from one type of transport to another without first thoroughly studying the characteristics of a specific type of transport, but the principle itself can be used to create and adapt similar comparable methodologies. One of the most complex elements of comparative methodologies is the factor weights, as they can be different for different types of transport or situations, so their further study is very important and the authors plan to extend the research depending on non-standard situations and when several types of transport modes are used. Maritime transport and seaways must be safe and their improvement must be carried out in separate periods, and during it all, conditions must be adopted to ensure the safety of navigation [54], so this problem is important both from a scientific and practical point of view. Supply chains and their optimization are important in logistics processes [55], so research in this direction is important and must be connected with the possibilities of testing new sections of sea routes using modern navigation systems and their separate components, such as Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) systems [56]; therefore, the use of separate sections of new main sea roads and optimizing logistics chains must be scientifically based and practically acceptable [57; 58; 59]. The main conclusion that is important when evaluating the methodology for the evaluation of maritime road comparative indices developed and presented in this article is that when using the presented methodology, it is possible to obtain quantitative results of specific maritime routes that are important for shipping companies and cargo owners (customers) and, in addition, may also be useful for administrative authorities. Finally, we have made the following conclusion: the best Benchmark index was attained for the Suez Canal route (1.16). The Benchmark index for the African sea route is about 16 percent worse, the Panama Canal sea route index is about 29 percent worse, and the Northern Sea route is about 37 percent worse compared to the Suez Canal route. Although the Benchmark index of the Suez Canal route is the best, some ships cannot use it in the event of military conflicts or other problems.