Coaster fleet to be renewed at Turkish shipyards

Former Minister of Transport Binali Yıldırım, who handed his resignation earlier this month as per a law that dictates that the transportation, interior and justice ministers resign three months before parliamentary elections, has shared information on a possible loan from Holland to renew Turkey’s fleet of coasters in an exclusive statement to MarineDeal News.
Yıldırım said that a team of experts had had two meetings with Dutch officials, to finalize a loan agreement that will finance the building of new vessels for Turkish shipowners. Yıldırım could only share a limited number of details on the possible loan due to a non-disclosure agreement with Dutch officials. The minister said Turkish coaster ships were very old, a situation that creates environment, security and economic risks. “With the loan provided by Holland, we hope to finance at least 100 vessels ranging between 4000 and 6000 DWT All the ships will be built in Turkish shipyards by private sector companies. The government will only act as the loan guarantor, although not in the exact sense of the term. Those who don’t have coaster boats, if they want to invest in a new ship that falls under this system, will also have the opportunity to make use of the credit if they match the specified criteria.” He said the estimated cost would be about $900,000,000 for a 100 dry cargo ships. “A majority of this will be provided by Holland. We are considering setting the equity capital to be put in at about 15 percent. We have come a long way in the preparation phase of the project, but we haven’t closed the door to other possible financing opportunities.”