Turkey climbs to 5th position

Due to projects implemented by the Turkish ministry of transport in the last 4 years to increase shipyard capacity, Turkey?s worldwide market share in shipbuilding has risen from 0.9% to 1.4% making Turkey 5th in shipbuilding behind Germany who occupies 4th place with a share of 3.6%. With these developments the Turkish ministry of transport’s bureau for maritime affairs has expanded its goals to become 4th by 2010.

Binali Yildirim, Turkish minister of transport, said shipbuilding capacity has increased by an average of 65% in the last four years. The number of shipyards operating or about to start operating in Tuzla as well as in the Black Sea, Izmit Gulf, Yalova, in the Aegean or Mediterranean has reached 60. Turkey used to build ships of up to 20,000 DWT maximum but is currently able to build ships of up to 60,000 to 70,000 DWT.

As per reports, Turkish shipbuilding capacity rose from 654,000 DWT to 1.4 million DWT since 2003 and the amount of sheet steel processed in shipyards has doubled. Maintenance and repair capacity have also seen a considerable increase reaching a million tonne yearly capacity following the restructuring of some other shipyards.