Cicek building largest vessel in Turkey

Cicek Shipyard has begun construction of the first of three 58,000 dwt Supramax bulk carriers, the largest vessels ever to be built in Turkey. Ordered by the Bayraktar Shipping Group, they will be constructed in the shipbuilder?s Panamax-sized building dock, which is currently being extended to 215m and when completed will be 250m long.

Cicek Shipyard started construction of the building dock at its Tuzla Bay facility in 1999 but lack of government support resulted in it not being completed until 2006. The first and still the only such facility in Turkey, it is served by a 300 tonne gantry crane and has already been used to construct four IMO II chemical tankers. The yard also has a 160m long slipway served by a 200 tonne gantry crane and a smaller slipway suitable for building coastal vessels.

In addition to the Supramax bulk carriers, Cicek has contracts for two 1,300TEU container ships, also for Bayraktar, that are due to be launched in April and August this year, two 24,000 dwt bulk carriers for a foreign shipping company, one for delivery next year and the other in the first half of 2010, and four 3,150 dwt IMO II chemical tankers for delivery in 2008.