THE EVOLUTION OF INDICATORS DESCRIBING THE OPERATION OF PORTS AND TERMINAL
The paper offers the proposals to form an integrated system for the assessment of operational and economical processes in container terminals. The necessity of this development is proved by the subject analyses of the existing terminology and double meaning in interpretation and usage of the terms.The core of the proposal is the statement that the quantity of factual working moves performed by the technological machines and mechanisms when handling the cargo flow varies greatly. That fact makes inevitable the build an advanced system of indicators which would provide the clear andunequivocal measures to assess the labor consumption and self-cost connected to the cargo port and terminal throughput. The researches show that a part of caro flows in the modern sea and land transportation system appear and terminate in ports and terminals, which was not possible in traditional environment. The total mass of goods handled on the terminal remains the same, while the technology of transportation, storage and handling evolve immensely. The grows of competition and severe drop in tariffs make to pay more attention to lowering ofthe self-cost of all cargo handling operation in ports.With inadequate definition and interpretation of key indicators concerning the commercial and operational activities in ports this problem cannot be solved.. The proposed approach is expected to be useful both at the stage of the technological design of ports and terminals and commercial planning of their operations.The realization of the proposals is expected in the form of development of the national standards.