In 2012, Turkish owners commanded a fleet of 22.5 million dwt. In 2013, that figure had risen to 30.3 million dwt, compared to only 8.7 million dwt 15 years ago in 1998.*
According to data on the subject, the total fleet size of vessels of 1,000 grt and higher flying the Turkish flag is 9.5 million dwt. The tonnage total of vessels running international flags owned by Turkish owners is 20.8 million dwt. About 96 percent of the 8.7 million dwt fleet of Turkey in 1998 were comprised of vessels flying the Turkish flag. As of early 2012, this percentage had gone down to 37.6 and further down to 31.3 as of 2013.
Because of its geographical advantage, Turkey does not have any maritime boundary and enjoys all benefits of maritime accessibility. More than 85% of Turkey’s foreign trade is realized by seagoing transportation. With a trade balance of $380 billion in 2012, this is good for $300 billion. Additionally, the relatively low labor costs create a further advantage to the seagoing shipping.
Taken together, a versatile shipping sector has emerged in Turkey, which plays a substantial role in the European and regional transport systems.
General composition of the fleet
The overall picture of the Turkish shipping sector is quite diverse. On the one hand there are large players with ramifications in other sectors of the economy, operating a professional and young fleet of relatively large merchant ships. On the other side of the spectrum a fragmented and old fleet of general cargo ships, tugs and small ferries exists, often run by one-ship companies.
The Turkish growth in seaborne trade goes hand in hand with investments in the Turkish owned merchant fleet. In 2005, the merchant fleet over 100 GT consisted of 1.596 vessels. This fleet increased 40% to 2.237 vessels by January 2013. The capacity was 10.7 M dwt in 2005 and almost tripled to 30 M dwt in eight years’ time.
In terms of cargo carrying capacity, the Turkish owned fleet consisted in 2013 dominantly of bulk carriers (16.1 M dwt, average ship size 52,000 dwt) and tankers (4.9 M dwt, average ship size 126.000 dwt). In terms of number of ships the general cargo sector dominates (2.2 M dwt, 719 ships).
The twenty largest ship owners have an office in Istanbul but have very diverse activities. Relationship with trade activities such as metal mining, commerce, banking, insurance, tourism, etc. is quite common. Also shareholding together or with other (shipping) companies is regular. This section elaborates the main Turkish ship owners. Part one presents the fleet of these ship owners, and part two focuses on the specific ship owners.
More than 60% of the Turkish fleet is owned by the 20 biggest ship owners. This is a capacity of 18.6 M dwt and an average age of 7 years. It accounts for 305 vessels in total. Of these ships 159 are bulk carriers, 41 containers, 34 tankers, 20 product/chemical carriers and 19 chemical and oil carriers. The rest are miscellaneous vessels, like ro-ro, chemical parcel tankers, livestock carriers, etc.
75 million dwt fleet in 2023
Sources say Yildirim Holding, owned by businessman Robert Yuksel Yildirim, has plans to significantly expand its fleet by ordering 10 new kamsarmax vessels. Similarly, the Ciner Group is expected to have a fleet of a significant size, once its vessels under construction are delivered. Another company that ordered five tankers worth $245 million in 2013 is Fiba Holding.
Large ships usually give European owners an advantage, but that is not the case for Turkish owners, who have been more active in the smaller tonnage market.
*All the datas and infos are compilied from Turkish Chamber of Shipping&MOTMAC- Maritime Affairs Working Group&Undersecretariat for Maritime Affairs
Geden Line:
Geden Line has been active in the shipping industry since 1975. The company combines ship owning activities with ship management services and technical management. Geden owns and operates different vessel categories. Their 53 vessels vary from Product / Chemical carriers to bulk carriers and tankers. Total cargo carrying capacity measures 4.7 M DWT with an average age profile of 4 years.
The order book consists of three vessels with a capacity of more than 80.000 dwt each. All three are being built in South Korea and will be delivered in 2013. The operations department, Geden Operations Ltd (GOL), was formed in September 2005 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Geden Lines domiciled in Malta to concentrate on developing an operating presence in the handy max market.
The chairman of Geden Lines, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, is the owner of Cukurova Holding.
Yasa Shipping Industry:
Yasa Shipping Industry was established in April 1999 and the Company started to place bulk carrier new building orders at Tsuneishi Japan and Tsuneishi Cebu shipyards in June 1999. The first dry bulk carriers were ordered in October 2000 and the company established its tanker fleet from 2004 onwards. At May 2013, Yasa Shipping owns a fleet of 21 bulk carriers, 8 tankers and 4 product/chemical tankers. A total of 2.814.574 dwt and an average age of 4.5 years. The order book consists of four vessels; two tankers of 115.000 dwt and two bulk carriers of 81.525 dwt. All four vessels are built in South Korea and will be delivered in 2013 and 2014.
Yasa Holding has activities in shipping, construction and tourism.
Active Shipping:
Active Shipping is an operator of dry cargo vessels and tankers. Active Shippin gowns and manages a very young fleet (2.8 years) of 8 bulk carriers and 4 product carriers with a total capacity of 1.464.788 dwt. The ships are all built in South Korea. The fleet is officially owned through a Singapore entity. Active shipping charters their vessels through their commercial department in Istanbul. Currently, almost 75% of the fleet is on short term time charter. The chairman and owner of Active Shipping, Mehmet Ali Umur, is the owner of Umur Group. Umur Group is a large conglomerate with numerous investments.
Umur Group and associated holding companies collectively control – directly and indirectly-companies in printing, stationary, label and packaging. It has a share in the German company Edelmann Printing Machines GmbH.
Densa Shipping:
Densa Shipping was established in December 2008. Densa Shipping Industry and Trade S.A. chose to enter the shipping business as a response to the steep drop in asset values. Densa renders full management services for bulk carriers and tankers. For the tankers, only commercial management and commercial operations are provided. The bulk carriers consist of commercial, technical, crewing, insurances, supplies, ISM and similar issues. Amounts to 1.4 M dwt, with an average age of only 1.5 years. Three bulk carriers are built in China, one in the Philippines, eight in South Korea and three in Vietnam. The tankers were built in South Korea. The order book consists of five vessels, of which three bulk carriers (built in Vietnam) and two product carriers (built in South Korea. All will be delivered in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The shipping company is owned by Omer Sabancı, a major shareholder of the aforementioned Sabancı Group. Mr. Omer Sabancı has a partnership with Doysa Air and Odesa Polymer.
Ciner Denizcilik:
Ciner Shipping is a part of Ciner Group. This was formerly known as Park Group that came into existence in 1987 and changed its name to Ciner Group in 2005.
Ciner Shipping falls under the Commerce, Industry and Service Group. Ciner Shipping was established just after the crisis. Ciner Shipping owns 12 bulk carriers with a total capacity of 721.871 dwt. The average age is 1.1 years. The vessels are built in South Korea and China and Malta flagged. The order book consists of one tanker and five bulk carriers. The bulk carriers will be delivered in 2013 and the tanker in 2015.
Other maritime subsidiaries of Ciner Commerce, Industry and Service Group are Ciner Ship Management and Hopa Port. Ciner Ship Management was established in 2010 and offers different ship management services. Hopa Port is located at the Black Sea, only 15 kilometres from Georgia. It has provided loading and unloading services to about 250 vessels per year since 1997, and has realized about 500.000 tonnes of loading and unloading services per year. There is an open are of 102.462 m2, warehouse of 18.220 m2, a tank terminal of 38.000 m3 and the grain terminal has a capa-city of 10,000 ton.
Kiran Holding:
Kiran Holding is founded as a shiprepair and fitting company in 1959. Shipping activities began in 1973, when an old cargo ship was purchased, named “Kar”.
In 1987, this cargo ship was rebuilt and renamed as “Tahir Kiran”. More dry bulk vessels were ordered and commercial shipping and ship management was established.
The Honorary Chairman Mister Turgut Kiran is the owner of the holding. Subsidiaries of the company are Tuzla Shipyard, where dry-dock, repair and conversion services are provided, Hanbulk Chartering, which is the exclusive shipbroker of the company and Hanbulk Trade. Hanbulk Trade, a foreign trading company in natural stones in Turkey. The entire supply-chain of dry bulk of Kiran Holding.
The fleet consists of 14 dry bulk vessels with a total capacity of 795.324 dwt and the average age of the fleet is 16.1 years. Only five vessels are built in China and one in Japan. The other eight vessels are built in Brazil, Bulgaria, Portugal and Romania.
Besiktas Shipping:
Besiktas Shipping dates back to the 1960’s. Besiktas Shipping is owned by the Besiktas group, where the majority of shares are owned by the aforementioned Kalkavan family. Related group activities include ship building, which is linked to Besiktas Shipyard. The group invested and founded companies in finance, insurance, medical and tourism industries. It has major partnerships in Asya Finance, Isik Insurance, Memorial Hospital, Alpina and Hotel Pera Palas.
It started with ship management by providing ship services with their small tankers for oil companies. Currently, it is a ship manager for commercial operations of crude oil, products, chemicals and bitumen tankers trading worldwide. Additionally, it serves commodity traders by transporting dry bulk cargoes. The vessels are supported with technical, commercial and crewing services. Besiktas Shipping owns 16 vessels, of which 12 tankers and 4 cape size bulk carriers. Additionally, two vessels are only managed by Besiktas Shipping, and owned by the British Jubilee Ships. The total capacity is 1.109.081 dwt and the average age of the fleet is 4.3 years. Ten of the sixteen vessels are built in the Turkey, of which only four built at the Besiktas Shipyard. The remaining six vessels are built in South Korea.
Kaptanoglu Shipping:
Kaptanoglu Shipping is the part of the family company Kaptanoglu Holding. The holding was founded in 1904 and is active in many sectors, such as foreign trade (log, steel, timber, scrap, and glass in cases), tourism, real estate (constructing residences and offices in properties in Istanbul), shipbuilding and repairing, yacht building and ship brokering. In the energy sector Kaptanoglu Holding owns and operates hydroelectric and wind power plants in the Eastern part of Turkey. Additionally, Kaptanoglu is involved in various joint ventures.
These are Dati Investment Holding S.A., Eregli Shipping Company, Karadeniz Ro-Ro, Turkish Cargo Lines and Marine Tug & Pilot.
At the end, its core business is ship owning. The fleet consists of 15 vessels of a total capacity of 580.240 dwt. The vessels vary from chemical & oil carriers, product carriers, chip carrier and a tanker. This company is one of the few larger Turkish ship owners building ships domestically. Nine out of fifteen vessels were built in Turkey. The fleet’s average age is 5.3 years.
Ulusoy Sea Lines:
Ulusoy Sea Lines started as a shipping agent in 1981. After the U.S.S.R. in 1991, the commercial interests of both Turkey and Russia grew. Therefore, Ulusoy purchased the first ro-ro vessel with 40 trailer capacity in 1994 and the first line Samsun-Novorossiysk was established. Within a short time Derince-Ilyichevsk arise. Due to business development Ulusoy Sealines Management S.A was established in 1996. In 1999, Ulusoy provides ro-ro services between Trieste and Ceşme.
The company started with port operations in 2003. They acquired the Management Rights of Port of Cesme for 30 years. Additionally, Ulusoy also found a Maritime College with 20 classes for 480 student capacity in Cesme. This school graduates highly qualified iron seamen for the shipping world.
Ulusoy owns and operates seven ro-ro vessels, two ropax vessels and eight bulk carriers. With a total capacity of more than 500,000 dwt and the average age is 14.7 years. Especially adding up the vessels in the order book; four bulk carriers of 64.000 dwt each. All are built in China and will be delivered in 2013 and 2014.
Arkas Line:
Arkas Line is a liner company that is part of the Arkas Group. Arkas Group is a holding that established in 1902. It operates in various sectors. It provides agency services, terminal services, logistic services (which integrate sea, land, rail and air transportation), shipowning and other sectors. It provides services to the ports and liner operations of the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and North Africa. Since 1996, it added feeder transportations for maritime trade conducted by EMES Feedering The fully cellular container fleet of Arkas consists of approximately 83.600 TEU.
