We had a conversation with Chairman of Elkon, Seçkin Uz about Elkon’s new projects around the world, the incentives they received from the European Union, the military projects they are involved in and the importance of battery systems in the green transformation of naval vessels
Can we get to know you briefly?
Of course, let’s start with my entry into the sector. The person who encouraged me to go into the maritime sector was Ahmet Çalık, the former General Manager of Çelik Tekne Shipyard and my uncle.
My uncle had a great influence on me choosing the shipbuilding department when I was in high school. Çelik Tekne Shipyard was one of the best shipyards of its time, so I did my internship there and learned a lot. I also did an internship at the design side and worked a lot there.
In 2007, before I graduated from ITU, I went abroad and started working in Singapore. I was working on propellers in my first job. After working in Singapore for a year, when the company’s office in Türkiye opened, I returned here and worked for 1.5 years. Then I was transferred to Sweden, where I completed my technical education. After 2 years, I moved back to Singapore. Singapore is a country that really attaches great importance to maritime and shipbuilding. I worked there for 4 years and even met my wife there. When I was thinking of settling down in Singapore, the company opened offices in Dubai and Türkiye and I was offered the position of General Manager. I could not say no to this and returned to my homeland.
At that time, I was working for a company called Caterpillar, but we had to close the Turkish branch in 2017. Afterwards, I moved to Dubai and left the company a year later. I took a job in Abu Dhabi again. Here, we conducted a study on the “operation of offshore vessels” where I had no previous experience. In this process, I learned about the difficulties in the operation of offshore vessels.
How are we in this sector as Türkiye?
While I was there, I also worked with the Turkish side. Even though our country has many shortcomings in this field, investments are increasing and progress is being made rapidly. The number of ships should increase and the number of studies and experts in this field should be increased.
How did your paths cross with Shottel?
When the pandemic broke out, I took a break from working and spent time with my family. After a one-year break, I could not withstand the pressure from the market. Although I did not want to at first, Adil Erkoç, the owner of Ada Shipyard, convinced me to work with him. I wanted to experience the shipyard side, where I had no previous experience. I started as the Shipyard Manager of Ada Shipyard. After delivering two ships to a Norway-based company, I applied to Shottel and as the General Manager of Shottel Türkiye; I returned to the propeller and supply side, the area where I have the most experience and feel most comfortable. I still continue my duty. Shottel acquired 85 percent majority shares of Elkon in May 2022. 30 percent of the shares belonged to the employees and half of their shares were taken and they continue to work with us as shareholders.
“It was a surprise for me too”
This came as a surprise to me and I was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elkon, which I am very proud of. In January 2024, I was appointed General Manager of the company and I held both of these positions until May. Our aim here is to bring Elkon to wider markets internationally and increase its competitiveness.
Shottel is a family-owned company that has been operating for more than 100 years. It has never changed hands since its foundation. They have never taken part in the management, leaving the business to professionals and rejecting all offers to buy the company. They are determined to continue the family heirloom. The company has over a thousand employees.
How Shottel and Elkon came together?
Elkon is Shottel’s first acquisition outside Germany. Under the holding company, Shottel Industries is Shottel Maritime, a company working on propeller and propulsion systems, and there is also an electricity company called HW, which was acquired before. Shottel Hydro, an innovative green energy company that generates electricity from the currents in the sea. Finally, they acquired a company that produces hydraulic anchors for offshore wind farms and renamed it Shottel Technologies.
The company then made its first overseas acquisition through Elkon. Electricity investments have been gaining more and more importance recently. Since the cost of battery investments, especially in tugboats, is increasing, the company Shottel is interested in and they acquired Elkon, a reputable company in this field.
At Shottel, we are directly affiliated to the holding. This gives us flexibility. We don’t force you to buy the whole package from us as some companies do. Elkon still continues to provide services as before, albeit with different systems. There may be projects where we work both as partners and with companies with different propulsion systems.
As Elkon, our aim is to spread more around the world and for this purpose we are also benefiting from Shottel’s customer network. We have signed contracts with customers in the USA, China and Singapore. Shottel is a very well-known name in the world.
When we say “azimuth thruster”, these products are now called Shottel. The brand is now associated with the product. It has 16 offices around the world. As Elkon, we work integrated with all these offices. They can provide more advantageous solutions by offering Elkon’s products to their customers. Both sides gain from this.
What has Elkon done and what are you planning plan to do in Türkiye?
Elkon is one of the few electrical integrators in the world. I can say that it is the best integrator in Türkiye. Currently, the construction of battery tugboats is being emphasized worldwide. Our shipyards in Türkiye are also working on this and currently 7 battery tugboats have been built and sent abroad, especially to Canada. In the world, 50 battery tugboats have been ordered and Shottel and Elkon are among 14 of them.
Are there infrastructure problems with electric marine vessels?
These are new technologies. There is a lot of uncertainty when we enter these projects and we learn by experience. We finalize them by solving them with our engineering services and our own engineers. The infrastructure problem in cars is not a problem at sea because almost all of Norway’s electric ferries were built by Turkish shipyards. In addition, since the routes that the ships will go to and come from are certain, the battery systems designed according to this order can operate smoothly.
How do you ensure the safety of the batteries?
Electrical systems are heat-emitting systems. For this reason, we have switched to a water cooling system in our drive systems. There are also heaters for use in very cold weather. Engineers anticipate such challenges and take precautions
Can you tell us about your international projects?
As Elkon, we are involved in many R&D projects of the European Union (EU). We have been selected in 8 EU projects so far. Financially, we have been entitled to receive a grant of over 2 million Euros, for which I received a congratulatory message from Mr. Hakan, President of TÜBİTAK. Our most recent EU projects include ADRIATIC, coordinated by Beia (Romania), in partnership with NTNU, Usea (Norway) and OBSS (Türkiye); MARTERA ERANET, a project on the development of communication infrastructure for the cooperation of underwater and surface vehicles; NEMOSHIP, an EU project focusing on the development of a cloud-based platform; and Horizon Europe HORIZON-CL5-2023-D5-01-12, which aims to design the most suitable power dam solution to provide surface power supply to moored and moored ships, Horizon Europe HORIZON-CL5-2023-D5-01-14, demonstrating the safe integration of fuels such as biomethanol and NH3 (together with a biomethanol reformer, NH3 cracker and 1MW low temperature PEM fuel cell) to support the energy transition of commercial ships, Our project aims to save a large amount of emissions by steam reforming and ammonia cracking instead of Low Sulfur Fuel Oil, and we have other projects such as EMFAF-2023-PIA-FLAGSHIP-3-MED, HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-05 and HORIZON-CL5-2024-D5-01-11.
What is your position in the international market?
Elkon has added the African continent to the regions it works in. We are involved in the projects of Trawler ships in Spain. Here, shipyards are now in direct contact because they want to work for us. We come to mind when it comes to fishing vessels. We work with shipyards in Sri Lanka. Companies in Norway prefer us even for the ships they build in Sri Lanka.
What is the localization rate of your products?
Elkon is a Turkish company. Even though our main owner is Shottel, we pay our taxes to Türkiye. Our production is here. Some of the equipment we need to use on electricity comes from Europe. As part of our growth strategy, we established Elkon Norge in Norway. We provide both warranty period and service to shipowners there. We also provide sales support. We have also established an office under Shottel in the U.S. We are growing Elkon rapidly by utilizing Shottel’s offices. We are present in all works around the world.
We pay attention to the localization rate in our production. We are especially involved in military projects. We were the integrator of all electrical equipment of the TCG Derya. We signed a contract for 8 LCTs with ADİK, and we work with ASFAT. We are involved in all offshore patrol vessels. Recently, we have been working with DAERSAN on a boat built for Qatar. We are taking part in 8 LCTs together with Adik Shipyard. We have an office in Teknopark and we work only for military projects.
We also go for segmentation. We also have a separate department for yacht projects. It is an area where we are very active. Of course, Elkon works as a strategic partner especially in mega yachts over 40 meters. This is an area where Türkiye is in a very important position. Elkon also supports its partners in this field.
What is your difference from your competitors?
Integrator companies in Türkiye have become known worldwide. Our competitors are the companies that carry us forward and with which we do business together. One of them is BMVA and the other is Can Makina. Although I humbly say that Elkon is the best, we take part in various projects together. Competition helps you develop in a good way, and we wish them success.
Do you bring quality to the customer?
As Elkon, our values are very important. This is the reason why it is a 44-year old company. We are moving forward with these experiences and accumulations and some principles. In this respect, it is also very important for us that the competition is ethical. Obviously, when we take part in projects, we look at what we can do best. We focus on what we can do rather than what our competitors do. We focus on how we can provide the best quality.
What are the main problems in the sector?
We are currently one step ahead in propulsion systems and electrical integration. Because there is also a know-how coming from Shottel. Our teams come together and optimize the systems. The solutions we produce in battery optimizations are the most optimal.
Has the change in maritime technologies created a change in the expectations of your customers?
To give an example from the Turkish market, before the crisis in 2008, we were number one in chemical tankers. We produced the most chemical tankers in the world. When you look at chemical tankers, they were becoming more advantageous in terms of electricity compared to the past. After the crisis, when Norway’s electric ferries, trawlers and more complicated ships started to arrive, Turkish shipyards started to develop and the market became completely different. Naturally, electricity became very important. There were also faltering here. Because shipyards did not have electrical systems in the past, and now the importance of electricity and electrical integration has started to be realized. In the past, we used to produce only adan panels and distribution panels, but now we have started to produce more complicated equipment such as drives and dc switch consoles.
We do these with our own engineers and our own technologies. The equipment we call drive has come to affect all operations of the ship. This has developed customer expectations in a way that we need to provide faster service and intervene. Therefore, there has been a great development in our business.
In the past, the most important part of the ship was the machinery, but today it has been replaced by electricity.
How are the batteries doing?
Batteries are getting bigger. Our biggest problem is to fit them. Our equipment has also grown. We have also grown financially. With a simple calculation, while we used to provide 200 thousand euros of equipment for a tugboat, we started to provide million euros of equipment for tugboats of the same size. This has also enabled us to grow.
What are the shortcomings in ship designs?
These new technologies are also a big challenge for designers. They also need to increase their competencies. Here, too, they need suppliers like us. Robert Allen is very important for our country and Türkiye is very important for Robert Allen. As Elkon, we have a very good cooperation with Robert Allen. They recommend us to their customers in the design works they work on around the world. Our relations with all designers are like this. Because this is how projects start and designers are the first to be approached and they need partners like us in these new works.
Since we are an electrical integrator, our most important goal is to produce solutions. Sometimes we increase the panels, sometimes we decrease them. As an electrical integrator, we carry out special work for each project.
Are you working on other green fuel projects?
Of course, there have been many seminars and meetings about which green fuel will be at the forefront, but no conclusions have been reached yet. The front runner at the moment is electric ships and boats powered by batteries.
Do you have any supply problems?
There was a major disruption in the supply chain during the pandemic. We currently do not have such a problem. As Elkon, we prefer equipment that can be found anywhere in the world and we have the opportunity to intervene easily in case of possible malfunctions.
We also have domestic productions in our R&D center and we make the software of all components ourselves.
Electric ships are more advantageous than other ships in every sense. Even if you generate electricity on land with fossil fuels, electric ships are more efficient due to the advantages they provide.
When we produce for ships such as city ferries, we calculate the distance they will travel, the number of voyages and their speed and develop a system accordingly, and add batteries that will last for a minimum of 10 years. In addition, thanks to new technologies, we continuously monitor the status of the batteries in real time. The biggest challenge here is to determine the service area of the ship.
We work with Kocaeli University in R&D projects. We also attend special days of all universities, meet young friends and tell them about ourselves. We try to help them. We attach importance to education and want to help them make their career plans.
We make the biggest investment in knowledge and R&D. We are trying to increase our market abroad. We are trying to make investments to make our R&D studies known.
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