DEVELOPING THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT IN THE ROAD FREIGHT TRANSPORT SERVICES MARKET OF UZBEKISTAN

Abstract

This article examines the structural and institutional barriers that constrain the development of a genuine competitive environment in the road freight transport services market of Uzbekistan, and proposes a digital-ecosystem-based mechanism for overcoming them. Despite the strategic importance of the sector - road transport carries approximately 90 percent of the country's total freight volume - the market remains largely fragmented and dominated by direct, informal agreements between cargo owners and drivers, with no centralized price-discovery mechanism and limited quality-based differentiation among carriers. Using document analysis, international benchmarking and a Porter's five-forces-based structural analysis, the study identifies the principal barriers to competition and evaluates the extent to which the proposed National Digital Freight Transportation and Logistics Ecosystem - built around a Broker- Carrier- Dispatcher institutional model, a national Freight Exchange platform and a public trust-rating system - can shift market competition from an informal, relationship-based pattern toward a transparent, quality- and efficiency-based one. The findings indicate that the main constraints are institutional and informational rather than purely technological, and that digital platforms can simultaneously expand and, if poorly governed, restrict competition. The article concludes with policy recommendations for licensing, platform governance and market-monitoring mechanisms