Turkish shipyards can?t cope

Even though the Turkish ship industry has increased the number of its shipyards by 62%, it transferred 7.5 million DWT of orders to the Far East as all sites are full until 2010. Enjoying its heyday, the Turkish ship building industry has been having a hard time meeting the high demand. It found the solution by constructing larger vessels in the Far East.

While ship owners construct ships with an average of 30,000 DWT, they have outsourced ship orders to Japan, Korea and China for ships larger than 100,000 DWT between 2007 and 2010. Among those who have placed orders for ships for the Far East are Cengiz Kaptanošlu, Yal??n Sabanc? and Mehmet Emin Karamehmet.

Having made it through the crisis in 2003, the Turkish ship building industry today has 7.5 million dwt capacity with 45 shipyards, up from 37 in 2002.

Cerrahgil Group of Companies and TÜRMEPA President Ežref Cerrahošlu said that ordering ships abroad has become more difficult, adding: “The door is open if an order is to be placed before 2012. However, no shipyard owner would like to take an order for 2012. Japan is full until 2012, Korea until 2011 and the smaller shipyards in China until 2011.”