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Robert Yildirim believes that Turkey has
significant potential, but is concerned about the
number of terminal schemes in prospect
46
the country’s current capacity of 12M
TEU was utilised in 2012, yet private port
operators are adding 10.2M TEU and the
Government is planning to build at least
19.6M TEU of extra capacity over the
next 10 years or so. This is a massive 142%
increase on present day capacity levels.”
Jonathan Beard, chairman and CEO
of Catoni Group of Companies, one of
Turkey’s largest ship agency firms, did not
share this view. He argued that the nation’s
infrastructure, including its ports,
needed to be improved and expanded so
that Turkey would be able to support its
economic growth and trading potential.
“With this country’s GDP forecast to
rise three-fold by 2023, our container traffic
could grow between five and six times
the level it is now,” he said. “Potentially,
that means having the capacity to handle
over 42M TEU within the next 10 years.
“In addition, Turkey has the potential
to become a central transport, freight logistics
and trading hub for the greater region,
as it has the population, scale of
business and industry and political stability
for this to work. It means that the state’s
large-scale port plans at Candarli, Filyos
and Mersin plus the new railroads and
pipelines will be critical in this process.”
More privatisation
The Government, meanwhile, is pressing
ahead with its port privatisation programme.
According to Yesim Kurna, head
of the project group at the Privatisation
Administration, seven ports controlled by
either the Turkish Maritime Organisation
or the General Directorate of State Railways
are in various states of readiness.
“We are entering the third era of port
privatisation in Turkey,” she said, “having
already raised US$226M from phase one
and US$1.43B from stage two, which included
the sale of the concession at
Mersin to PSA International/Akfen for
US$755M in 2007.”
Among the general cargo and container
ports that will be privatised under
this next phase, the sale of Tekirdag
is the most advanced. At Derince and
Izmir, both of which had their privatisation
tenders cancelled in 2010, zone
planning studies are underway in advance
of new documents being issued,
according to Kurna.
Robert Yildirim, chairman of the
Yildirim Group, which owns Yilport – the
biggest operator of ports and terminals
in Turkey – agrees that the country has
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significant potential, but he is concerned
about the rapid expansion in the container
port sector, especially in regions, such as
the eastern Mediterranean.
“We have looked at several projects
in the Bay of Iskenderun but have decided
not to put money into directly
building ports/terminals here because of
the number of schemes being talked about
and the high risks involved,” he said.
“But that does not rule out our company’s
participation in managing such facilities
and/or buying/helping them out
with handling equipment. Our logistics
company ETi, which runs various rail
services and is building inland cargo service
centres in the region, can also help
local shippers and consignees streamline
and improve their supply chains.”
Overcapacity
Yildirim’s concerns are perhaps understandable
given that in 2012 the Eastern
Mediterranean region processed just
1.3M TEU but has between 7M and 12M
TEU of new capacity being developed
over the next 10-12 years.
The main projects comprise:
● Mersin – raising capacity of the existing
PSA/Akfen operation from 1.7M
TEU to 2.5M TEU.
● Mersin International Port – Government-sponsored
plan to build a facility
capable of handling up to 10M TEU annually.
Initially, US$370M will be spent
on constructing just over 3 km of quay
line and a yard area sufficient for processing
4M TEU/year. It is hoped that this
will be operational in 2016.
● Various private projects – largely based
on a number of existing finger piers and/
or greenfield beaches. A potential addition
of 2.5M to 4M TEU could be developed
in the next five-six years.
● Assan Port – increasing handling capacity
from a current 250,000 TEU/year to
450,000 TEU/year in 2014. MSC is its
main customer with CMA CGM also
using the port.
● Limak Iskenderun – The company secured
the 36-year operating and investment
concession in late 2011 and commenced
container handling operations in
March 2013 with a design capacity of
600,000 TEU/year. This will be expanded
to 1.3M TEU by the end of this year, with
phase 2, if it goes ahead, increasing the
terminal’s capacity to 3M TEU/year.
Yildirim’s main terminal investments
are located in the Marmara Sea area of
Turkey, a region described by the group’s
chairman as being “at the very heart of
the country’s container and general cargohandling
activities.” Currently, this region’s
ports, which include Marport, Evyap,
Haydarpasa, Yilport, Derince and
Gemport, process about 68% of Turkey’s
national container throughput volumes.
An estimated 13.6M TEU of new capacity
is under development.
Investments
The Yildirim group has been strengthening
its position in the region through a
combination of capital expenditure and
acquisitions. In the past 12 months the
company has bought 86.6% of Gemport
and all of RotaPort, the latter of which
handles mainly bulk/breakbulk cargoes,
including grain, cement and steel.
Yilport is pumping more than
US$200M into the latter as the port’s
existing jetties are upgraded and its warehousing
capacity expanded.
“In this sector there is not so much
competition around,” explained Yildirim,
“and I view our plans as adding considerable
weight to the existing port operation
and as offering our customers better
value services.”
Yilport is also investing in its container
terminals with four super post-Panamax
ship-to-shore gantry cranes on order from
the Japan-based manufacturer Mitsui.
These will support Yilport’s second phase
expansion programme and the upgrade
plan at Gemlik.
According to Sean Pierce, CEO of
Yilport Holding, the new cranes will be
delivered in January 2014 and will be able
to service ships loaded with 23 containers
across the weather deck.
He said that Gemport and Gemlik will
merge to become one of the biggest container
handling complexes in the
Marmara Sea area and this should allow
us to offer a much better product by man-
May 2013