INTRODUCTION
Those who have ruled over seas also ruled over the world for centuries. Seas connecting continents to oceans have transformed into small lakes as a result of developping technology when entered in the 20’th century, and people have come close to each other so much that the old world has had global structure.
Technology has enabled shipping sector become the most rantable and the most economic transportation way in the transportation industry by bringing importance of shipping to a level higher than it had in the past. Due to this superiority of seas, countries using seas in a rantable way are able to control the world trade.
An important part of export is made by means of the sea. There are very close connection of the amount of export cargo and variation of export goods with economic level and development of the country. Thus the amount of export and the increase in it shows how much a country is economically grown.
Nowadays 80 % of the world trade and 70-90 % of Turkish import and export transportation is performed by means of the sea.
Marine transportation is advantageous when compared to other types of transport. For instance the first advantage of the marine transportation is that it is 3.5 times cheaper than railway transportation and 7 times cheaper than the highway transportation. Another advantage is that heavy loads such as industrial raw materials may be transported from one destination to the other in ones.
A new transportation model is entered in the transportation world which is called multi-modal transport which connects the highway, railway, air and marine transportation together. The marine transportation must be given emphasize since highway, railway and air transportation improve more quickly than it.
Currently there is more than 38,500 ships of 300 GRT and above which weight as tonnage about 778,7 million DWT that shows how important the marine transportation is in the world we are living on.
2- WORLD MARINE TRANSPORTATION AND WORLD TRADE FLEET
The countries and the international foundations makes policies on the marine transportation in order to gain a better place in the world marine trade. The marine transportation is the most prefered means of external trade means especially in EU, consequently, the one who will be poverfull in this area will be powerful in the economic sense. Thus all of the world countries try to improve their marine transportation potentials.
In the European countries transportation scope, the marine transportation is tried to integrate with the land transportation in order to build a “Road to Sea” transportation. Another study made in the field of transportation about to shift the priority of transportation from highway to marine.
When a classification of the worldwide fleets is made in terms of the nationalites of the owners, the first place will be taken by our neighbour Greece that posses 16.5 % of the world fleet. The second place is occupied by Japonese firm with 12.1 % and the third place by U.S.A. with 5.8%. The table below shows the owners of the ships carying a flag of open registered countries. (1998)
Nationality of the ship owner Panama Liberia Bahamas Malta Cyprus Marshall Islands St. Vincent Bermuda Antigua& Barbuda Vanuatu Others Million DWT
1-Greece 18.1 14.8 8.4 23.3 28.9 1.8 3.1 - - 0.1 1.4 82.9
2-Japan 73.8 8.7 1.4 - 0.4 0.1 - - - 0.7 14.9 71.5
3-USA 8.4 35.9 17.1 0.9 0.8 22.3 1.2 2.5 - 0.5 10.3 33.3
4-Hong Kong 55.7 23.5 1.7 0.5 0.5 1.7 1.3 0.6 - 0.6 13.9 29.0
5-Norway 5.7 30.5 31.6 17.2 0.7 - 1.1 3.9 - - 9.2 24.0
6-Sweden 1.0 40.1 13.1 0.5 0.2 - 0.1 5.3 - - 40.1 17.4
7-South Korea 88.6 8.6 - 0.3 0.2 - 0.7 0.0 - - 1.6 17.0
8-China 45.6 35.7 - 2.7 1.9 0.5 4.5 0.0 - - 9.2 16.1
9-Germany 7.9 39.9 0.4 3.3 18.9 0.3 1.2 0.3 16.6 - 11.2 15.7
10-England 7.7 17.7 13.2 2.2 1.4 1.3 27.6 - - - 29.1 15.3
Others 20.0 25.4 11.8 10.3 4.9 0.3 4.3 1.0 0.3 0.5 21.2 88.2
World Total 31.7 22.4 8.9 8.4 7.8 2.4 2.0 1.9 0.7 0.3 13.4 415.7
OECD 30.1 19.3 10.4 9.2 9.3 3.0 1.5 2.4 0.9 0.4 13.6 312.2
AB 12.6 20.4 11.2 14.3 17.7 1.0 2.2 3.3 1.7 0.2 15.3 156.6
When another classification is carried out, in terms of flags; Panama takes the first place with it’s 145.1 million DWT ability. Panama is followed by Liberia with 95.1 million DWT and Greece with 43.8 million DWT.
The world marine trade grow every year about 3.9 %, and it is though that it will reach about 5.67 billion tone in 2006. The dry load request is though to increse every year with 4.9 % and reach 1.95 billion ton, petrolium tanker load request to increase with a yearly increase of 1.6 % and reach 2.08 billion ton and container and the other loads request with a yearly 6.6% increase reaching 1.6 billion ton.
According to the report of UNCTAD (1997), in 2006 the world trade fleet will become 880 million DWT with a yearly increse of 3.2 %. The dry load ships and petrolium tankers will have a yearly increase of 4.6 % and 1.0 %, that will reach at an amount of 335.3 million DWT and 313.9 million DWT. The total tonnage of containers and the other loading ships will have a yearly increase of 5.6 % and will reach 230.9 million DWT.
3- TURKEY’S MARINE TRANSPORTATION
It is known that the world nations prefer the marine and railway transportation cosidering that is much more rantable than the other means of transportation. On the contrary, in Turkey highway transportation is unique with no rival. In Turkey’s internal transportation the highway transport takes 72%, marine transport 15% and railway transport 10%. But in the international platform 90% of the import material and 70 % of the export material is transported by the marine transport.
Especially after 1990, in the new world order, because of the geological condition of Turkey, the transportation sector and the marine transportation and its related branches had become important to develop.
Turkey is geographically at an important place to become a transportation corridor among the east-west and north-south axes. Thus marine transportation should be one the first priority that Turkey should give importance.
The tonnage of the Turkish merchant fleet had been 9.552 thousand DWT for vessels over 300 GRT in 1995, reached 12 million DWT in 1997. By November 2001, there is 3180 ships with 9,548,381 DWT capacity in which 86 ships below 16 GRT with 50,734 DWT capacity belonging to public and 3094 ships with 9,497,647 DWT capacity belonging to private sector. Today Turkish transportation fleet is the world 20’th. The Table below shows the fleet proportions of some world countries (2001).
Countries Fleet Capacity (million ton) The Proportion in Total
Greece 143.1 19.9
Japan 98.7 13.2
Norway 60.1 8.01
USA 44.7 5.97
China 40.7 5.43
Singapur 20.6 2.75
Germany 32.9 4.39
Denmark 18.1 2.42
Taiwan 18.8 2.4
TURKEY 9.5 1.2
However the tendancy towards specialised vessels, such as RO-ROs, vessels for chemical materials and containers, the Turkish fleet coul not be able to achieve the renewal and rejuvenation convenient to international technical developments.
Turkey has almost 85.8 milion tons of foreign trade cargo. Out of this amount 54.7 million ton has been imported and 31.2 ton exported. Up to 1999 the companies prefered foreign flagged ships since the cost of Turkish flagged ships was too high. The high price of the Turkish flagged ships reduced after the declaration of the Turkish International Shipping Register which brought new energy into the sector but not succes to rescue it.
Turkey is a country that is surrounded by three parts with the sea which has 8333 km of coastal land. On this coastal line, there is about 300 coastal facilities.
From these;
- 12 harbor and quay are operated by TDİ
- 7 harbor by TCDD
- 2 harbor by Tüpraş
- 2 harbor by TDÇİ
- 2 harbor by TKK
- 20 harbor and quay by the firm owners
- 50 harbor and quays by the municipalities and privite institutions
- 59 harbor and quays by private sector
- 13 marinas by Bank of Turism abd municipalities
- 128 fisher shelters by privite institutions, municipalities, cooperatives.
In year 2000 in our ports and harbors, it had been piled up 186.3 million ton of load and 195,728 ships and 9534 passengers had arrived.
The loading and unloading capacity of the ports operated by TDİ is 148,879,000 ton/year without adding the petrolium and the petrolium products. As we come to the capacity of these, it is 160 million ton/year.
Marine transportation may be classified into two major groups which are cabotage transportation and external transportation.
4- COASTAL TRADE (CABOTAGE-INTERNAL TRANSPORTATİON)
Turkey, like some other mediterranian countries such as Greece and Italy, carry all its internal transportation by the Turkish Fleet.
Cabotage transportation consist of the transportation of petrol and petrolium products, mine ore, mine coal, cereal grains and mixed materials. Crude petrolium, petrolium products and spill liquids transportation takes the first place as the internal transportation. The second place is taken is taken by mixed material loads and other loads.
In Turkey, recently some 10 million tons of cabotage transportation is made.
5- PASSENGER TRANSPORTATİON
The internal and international passenger transportation is carried out by the Turkish Maritime Administration. The Turkish Maritime Administration continue its service with 4 passenger ships and 8 ferry boats.
The internal lines that are present for a passenger are as fallows;
Istanbul-Izmir
Istanbul-Avşa
Çanakkale-Gökçeada
Istanbul-Trabzon
Table Showing The Internal Passenger Transportation Made by TMA
Years Passanger Carried Million passanger x km
1990 874,336 127,429,000
1991 616,614 91,548,100
1992 454,595 58,413,469
1993 437,822 53,974,900
1994 384,444 44,892,480
1995 394,187 60,919,200
1996 397,595 57,754,000
1997 357,114 53,121,450
1998 376,526 53,121,250
1999 225,000 36,559,250
The international transportation lines of the Turkish Maritime Administration are;
Izmir-Venice
Çeşme-Birindisi
Mersin-Gazimağusa
Table Showing The International Passenger Transportation Made by TMA
Years Passanger Carried Million passanger x km
1990 342,094 97,415,400
1991 217,053 108,666,750
1992 176,475 108,764,950
1993 183,693 134,619,100
1994 168,122 124,415,400
1995 161,055 99,873,100
1996 163,605 120,067,150
1997 168,042 107,498,350
1998 122,712 88,434,650
1999 145,000 105,514,400
6- THE DEVELOPMENT IN THE TURKISH INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT
Turkish marine transportation, as parallel to the world behaviour has had an important development in the 10 years.
The development of external trade can be seen in the table below.
Improvement of marine transport in Turkey (1987-1998) (*1000 ton)
Years Total Export Import Turkish Flagged Ships
Trans. Amount %Proportion
1987 45,528.7 12,941.1 35,587.6 21,018.5 43.3
1988 52,517.8 19,707.5 32,810.2 19,704.9 37.5
1989 55,200.9 21,531.0 33,669.9 20,590.6 37.3
1990 59,117.1 15,238.6 43,878.5 22,307.3 37.7
1991 70,235.1 20,343.5 49,891.7 22,710.3 33.3
1992 72,419.1 21,915.1 50,504.0 29,539.3 40.8
1993 82,977.5 18,102.3 64,875.2 33,487.5 40.4
1994 74,743.6 22,112.8 52,630.8 36,986.6 49.5
1995 84,181.1 20,174.6 64,006.5 35,157.2 41.8
1996 91,680.3 18,846.2 72,834.1 36,057.9 41.8
1997 112,373.4 37,009.7 75,363.8 32,835.9 29.2
1998 104,076.2 24,773.3 79,303.0 33,856.8 32.5
1999 110,901.4 32,923.3 77,978.2 31,792.4 28.7
2000 118,248.1 32,291.1 85,956.9 36,082.4 30.5
2001 113,414.4 40,633.8 72,780.6 35,196.8 31.0
From the table, it may be seen that the proportion of the Turkish flagged ships transport increase with a lower acceleration than the overall sea transportation amount, thus the transportation ratio decreases. But after the put on of the shipping flag register, the Turkish flagged ships ratio has become to grow. It may be seen that the import volume of the external trade is much more than the volume of export trade.
Nowadays 24.3% of 31.2 million tons export transportation and 35.3% of 54.6 tons import transportation is made by the Turkish flagged ships
a) Export from the Turkish Ports
From the report of the Government Statistics Institude (DİE) between the years 1993-1997, the Turkish ports import animals, timbers, coals, ores , construction materials, foods and trade products as shown in the Table.
1993 1997 Harbor and Proportion %
Ore (ton) 3467627 3924107 Bandırma
31 İskenderun
12 İzmir
4
Animal (head) 748689 315163 Mersin
85 İskenderun
14 Çeşme
0.7
Timber (m³) 173404 37770 Kocaeli
25 İskenderun
22 Aiağa
16
Cons. Mat. (ton) 789817 8999485 İskenderun
41 Tekirdağ
25 Mersin
22
Cereal grains (ton) 1320038 1003945 Mersin
46 Samsun
14 İskenderun
13
Fruits and
Vegetables (ton) 192763 120048 Mersin
46 Samsun
14 İskenderun
13
Trade materials
(ton) 6989685 7632029 İzmir
36 Mersin
29 Aliağa
8
a.1) The Proportion of Marine Transport With Other Transportation Means
It may be seen in the table about 73%-84% of the export transportation of Turkey is made by marine transportation.
Year Maritime Highway Railway Air
Amount% Value% Amount% Value% Amount% Value% Amount% Value%
1992 80.39 40.22 18.23 52.57 1.16 0.22 0.22 6.22
1993 79.9 41.9 19.3 51.5 0.6 0.2 0.2 5.9
1994 84.2 44.4 14.8 47.1 0.4 0.6 0.6 7.9
1995 82.6 41.5 16.7 51.0 0.4 0.5 0.3 7.0
1996 76.5 42.4 22 48.5 0.5 0.6 1.0 8.5
1997 73 39.2 26.2 53.1 0.4 0.6 0.4 7.1
The point that should be taken into consideration is that the amount as weight of the products are heavy but the price is cheap.
a.2) The Proportion of The Countries That We Make Export and Import
The most important countries that we make export are the European countries which takes about the half of the portion.
At the tables below, it is seen the export portion made by means of the sea to the European and other countries.
Countries 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
France 81.89 87.5 87.7 87.8 84.3 69.1
Belgium/
Luxemburg 84.78 79.7 77.5 91.9 89.1 82.3
Holland 77.93 78.7 87.8 87 84.2 78.3
Germany 48.02 45 54.9 57 54.2 49.6
Italy 88.18 89 94.6 95.6 90.2 82.3
England 86.69 84.2 89.9 91.3 89.6 83.1
Ireland 92.6 90.9 94.4 96 96.9 90
Denmark 68.2 68.7 68 71 72.9 69.7
Greece 66.62 77 86 84.6 81.6 80.4
Portugal 89.36 95.9 96.7 98.7 96.6 83.6
Spain 92.52 91.9 98.7 98.4 91.9 88.9
Iceland 91.7 98 97.8 99.2 58.4 82.7
Norway 97.62 86.4 95.2 96.5 81.6 77.1
Sweden 77.06 49.8 91 88.2 77.1 68.3
Finland 82.15 79.8 97.2 83.7 97 74.9
Helvetia 65.3 79.3 77.9 83.3 79.6 61
Austria 62.59 59.2 64.3 65.4 50.8 48.9
Poland 49.36 26.9 23.8 30.1 42.8 33.4
Hungary 13.28 2.9 9.4 17.3 27.3 24.2
Rumania 72.46 67.6 59 26.5 29.2 24.4
Bulgary 39.99 46 26.9 18.8 26.7 23.9
Albania 51.94 41.2 47.2 9.3 34.6 69.3
Russia 92.74 70.5 52 46.9 55.5 57.1
Belarus 4.33 60.3 55 9.5 38.7 30.3
Ukranie 91 91.7 76.3 83.7 83.1 84.6
Estonia 41.86 0- 78.1 61 - -
Lithuiania 90.45 23.7 13.9 17.6 - -
Azerbeycan 93.62 62.2 57.1 0.2 6.5 47.6
Georgia 83.95 78.6 48.3 15.6 12 36.6
Kazakistan 52.59 48.6 44.5 5.9 - 19.5
Kirkizistan 2.35 64.4 20.5 0.8 -
Ozbekistan 92.96 96.2 70.6 4.8 - -
Tacikistan 65.7 97.9 96.9 25.9 - -
Turkmenistan 92.56 79.1 48.7 0.3 - -
Maroc 93.75 92.4 98.9 99.9 - -
Algery 96.42 85.8 98.7 97.9 - -
Tunisie 99.1 99 98.9 99.2 - -
Libia 95.16 92.7 95.8 98.2 - -
Egypt 94.13 94.3 - - - -
Sudan 59.33 98.3 - - - -
The next Table shows the Turkish marine transport with the country Groups.
EXPORT IMPORT
Country Groups 1995 % 1996 % 1997 % 1995 % 1996 % 1997 %
1-OECD Countries 8,624.3 42.7 9,024.57 48.9 24,032.8 64.9 19,511.51 30.5 30,279.4 27.8 19,891.2 26.4
A. EU Countries 7,489.3 37.2 7,831.6 41.6 21,364.9 57.7 9,211.9 14.4 10,204.4 14.0 10,256.7 13.6
Germany 82.6 0.4 85.1 0.5 123.3 0.3 1,621.4 2.5 1,348.9 1.9 979.6 1.3
Belgium 462.9 2.3 277.5 1.5 368.0 0.9 1,369.1 2.1 1,217.4 1.7 1,217.5 1.6
France 462.7 2.3 501.0 2.6 3,954.1 10.7 658.2 1.0 1,054.0 1.4 654.5 0.8
Holland 461.5 2.3 429.2 2.3 3,379.4 9.1 2,188.2 3.4 2,470.1 3.4 1,707.4 2.2
England 377.7 1.9 298.0 1.6 383.1 1.0 755.4 1.2 779.5 1.1 698.7 0.9
Spain 1,444.1 7.2 2,060.8 10.9 4,443.0 12.0 359.3 0.6 754.7 1.0 920.2 1.2
Italy 3,371.19 16.7 3,380.2 17.9 6,274.6 16.9 1,291.7 2.0 1,544.5 2.1 2,212.6 2.9
Greece 667.7 3.3 732.2 3.9 1,900.2 5.1 762.4 1.2 863.4 1.2 1,288.4 1.7
Others 166.8 0.8 67.6 0.4 539.2 1.5 205.8 0.3 172.0 0.2 577.8 0.7
B. Others OECD C. 1,125.9 5.6 1,192.9 6.3 2,667.9 7.2 10,299.5 16.1 10,075.0 13.8 9,634.4 12.8
ABD 714.8 3.5 671.3 3.0 1,880.7 5.0 6,418.1 10.0 5,632.1 7.7 5,181.3 6.9
Canada 37.0 0.2 40.3 0.2 381.4 1.0 858.6 1.3 662.0 0.9 923,9 1.2
Others 374.0 1.9 481.6 2.5 405.8 1.1 3.022,7 4.7 3,780.9 5.2 3,529.2 4.7
2-Islamic Countr. 5,810.4 28.8 4,488.3 23.8 - - 24,664.8 38.5 26,670.1 36.6 - -
Basra Gulf Countr. 1,446.6 7.2 777.2 4.0 - - 7,878.6 12.3 3,263.0 4.5 - -
Other Is. Countr. 436.7 21.6 3,711.1 19.7 - - 16,786.1 26.2 23,407.7 32.1 - -
3-Other Countries 5,737.7 28.5 5,333.4 28.3 12,976.9 35.1 19,830.2 31.0 25,884.5 35.6 55,472.5 73.6
TOTAL 20,174.5 100.0 18,846.2 100.0 37,009.7 100.0 64,006.5 100.0 72,934.0 100.0 75,363.7 100.0
Turkish Marine Transport with the country Groups (1995-1997) (*1000 ton)
a.3) Export Transport From The Flag Point of View
The proportion that Turkish flagged ships transport export materails changes over the years. The reason of this is that there are foreign countries which take place in the market. These countries such as Panama, Greece, Malta carry the export materials from Turkish coasts.
The related Table shows Turkey and the first 3 countries which carry the export materials from Turkey.
Load Type Turkish Flagged % Foreign Flagged %
Construction Materials 66.12 Panama 6.49 Greece 4.02 Malta 3.87
Mine ores 29.49 Panama 7.80 Malta 6.58 Russia 5.65
Mine coals 45.11 Panama 10.49 Russia 7.71 Honduras 6.65
Fuel Oil 15.90 Panama 29.77 Greece 13.59 Italy 9.59
Cereal Grains 31.30 KKTC 17.79 Syria 6.04 Malta 5.09
Timbers 35.10 KKTC 28.21 Malta 11.49 Russia 4.46
Animals 16.76 Syria 29.17 Lebenon 23.15 Honduras 9.43
When taking a look to the datas of the years 2000, it may be seen that Turkish flagged ships has the biggest portion in the export of liquid gas. However Turkish flagged ships proportion for industrial material export is 33.8%, mine ore 23.6 %, cereal grains 15%, petrolium products 11.6%, coal 5.2% and agriculture materials 3.3%. From the Table below it may be seen that the export transport from our harbors made by foreign countries continue to preserve its place.
Load Type Turkish Flagged Foreign Flagged Total (ton) Ratio %
Amount (ton) Ratio % Amount (ton) Ratio %
Cereal Grains 338,197 15 1,912,937 85.0 2,252,146 11.2
Mine Ore 769,181 23.60 2,493,395 76.4 3,262,593 16.30
Coal 1,800 5.20 32,772 94.8 34,572 0.17
Crude Oil 54,627 50 54,500 50 109,128 0.54
Petrolium Products 352,341 11.6 2,673,983 88.4 3,026,304 15.17
Liquid Gas 11,950 90.6 1,235 9.4 13,185 0.06
Liquids 24,305 5.7 399,834 94.3 424,141 2.12
Industrial Products 3,178,653 33.8 6,224,108 94.366.2 9,402,810 47.14
Agricultural Products 3,283 3.3 94,819 96.7 98,103 0.49
Other Loads 73,943 10.7 616,132 89.3 690,079 3.45
Timber 623,975 10.9 9,406 89.1 633,381 3.17
It may be concluded that there hadn’t been a big increase in the external trade transport as the ships are not suitable for that purpose and the tariff transport is not really performed in Turkey
b) Liquid Bulk Transportation
Liquid bulk transportation consists of crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied gases and other liquids.
As the crude oil taken out from Turkey is very insufficient, 90% of Turkey’s crude oil need which has approximately a yearly amount of 27 million is imported. Thus, it is very important for Turkey to posses enough tanker to continue the import with his own means.
The chart below shows the fuel oil transport rate imported from Turkey.
The proportion of the Turkish flagged ships in these transports was as follows.
Turkish Flagged Foreign
1990 47,7 52,3
1994 56,1 43,9
1997 25,30 74,7
1998 27,4 72,6
1999 29,9 70,1
It may be seen that there is an decrease in the transport by the Turkish flagged ship, this is because the ships are getting older. The tanker fleet by its ages can be seen in the table below. The number of ships below 5 years of age is quite insufficient.
Type of The Ship Under 5 years 5-10 years 11-20 years Below 20 years
Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private
Petroleum - 24 - 20 3 45 6 121
Chemical Material - 2 - 1 - 8 - 32
LPG - 2 - 1 - 1 1 6
Asfalt - - - - - - - 2
TOTAL - 28 - 22 3 54 7 161
ALL Public: 10 Private: 265
c) Dry Cast Load Transportation
The mine ore takes the first place in the dry cast load transportation which is pursued by cereal grains in the second position and coal in the third.
The import and export rate of the cast load thus the transportation rate depends on the annual productivity of Turkey. When the product is excess the needed values, there will be export, where it is less than the needed value or the quality is not good, there will be import.
The Chart belows shows the ratio of the marine dry cast load transport over the total marine transport (Export and import) and the Tables shows the Turkish flagged ship proportion over the total transport.
Export Turkish Flagged Foreign
1990 27,65 72,35
1994 33,88 66,12
1998 25,32 74,68
1999 23,38 76,62
Import Turkish Flagged Foreign
1990 48,31 51,69
1994 45,84 54,16
1998 39,67 60,33
1999 39,33 60,67
d) Container Transportation
Container transportation consist of the transportation of the coastly materials and brittle materials which should be carried with care and wich may damage easily and of carried frozen loads.
As the materials carried by the containers are importants, special care should be taken for loading, unloading and pile uping. Thus modern harbor facilities is needed.
Turkey ports is very pour in the world scale for the container transportation. Beside, between the Mediterranean countries Turkey coulnd’t compete against Greece and Cyprus and took the fourth place in the mediterranean rank.
In order to take a place in the world container transportation, the Turkish ports should be made adequate for storage, loading, unloading and pile uping.
Despite Turkey has a big amount of container line (25% of the world container traffic) passing from it and going to the world outside, most of the transport is being made by foreign flagged countries as may be seen in the Tables below.
Import Turkish Flagged Foreign Export Turkish Flagged Foreign
1997 4,51 95,49 1997 8,19 91,81
1998 6,61 93,39 1998 9,57 90,43
1999 9,37 90,63 1999 13,33 86,67
e) International Vehicle (RO-RO) Transportation
This transportation consist of the transport of railway cars, locomotives, all sort of vehicle having its own well, or pulled vehicles and machines. Turkey, with a good management process has grown its Ro-Ro transportation and nowadays is one of the leader country in the Meditteranean and the Black Sea. Contrary, the Turkish Ro-Ro fleet is below the world average and there is no enough Ro-Ro quays which sometimes cause for the Ro-Ro ships to draw near the conventional quays.
f) Transit Transportation
The primary ports used for transit transportation are, in the Meditteranean; Mersin and Iskenderun, and the Black Sea; Samsun and Trabzon.
In order to the Turkish transportation grows, Turkey ports should be connected with the highway and railway transportations. With a n embracing transportation network the transit transportation will be sure to grown.
As may be seen below the most important part of the Turkish import and export transportation was made by foreign flagged ships up to the flag register has been put into effect in 1999. From that time the Turkish flagged ships become increasing in the Turkish seas while the operation costs of the Turkish flagged ships decrease to that of the foreign flagged ships operational costs.
The Proportion of the turkish Transportation between the years 1994-1998 on Eagean, Medcoast, Marmara and Black Sea for Loaded (Export) and Unloaded (Import) materials may be seen from the graphs below. From these graphs the yearly changes of export and import transportation ratios between 1994-1998 may be seen.
7- 8’TH FIVE YEAR DEVELOPMENT PLAN, MARITIME TRANSPORT
The Maritime Transport section in the Five Year Development Plan edited by Government Plannign Organisation consisting the years 2000-2005 is as fallow.
a) Present Situation
• By the year 1995, the total freight, handled in our ports had been 119 million tonnes, number of container whereas, 765 thousand TEU (Twenty Feet Equivalent Unit). By the year 1999, on the other hand, these figures were 155,5 million tonnes and 1.400.000 TEU respectively. To ensure that port development decisions be based on sound information and data, Nationwide Port Development Master Plan that was initiated in 1999 shall be completed within the 7th Plan period.
• Within this period, the operation rights of seven public ports, operated by the General Directorate of the Turkish Maritime Administration, have been transferred to the private sector. However, no progress has been achieved in the field of administration of the ports by autonomous port administrations that will provide an efficient and productive management considering the implementations throughout the world.
• The tonnage of the Turkish merchant fleet had been 9.552 thousand DWT for vessels over 300 GRT in 1995, reached 12 million DWT in 1997, but retracted to 10.444 thousand DWT in 1999. Although there had been an orientation towards specialised vessels, such as RO-ROs, vessels for chemical materials and containers, the renewal and rejuvenation of the fleet with vessels convenient to international technical developments could not be achieved.
• The share of the Turkish merchant fleet within external commercial maritime transport had been 42 percent in 1995, but dropped to 30 percent in 1999. This figure is expected to be 32 percent in 2000. International RO-RO transportation is carried on by 22 vessels.
• The Law on Turkish International Flag Registration has been put into effect in the year 1999. Legal arrangements for the implementation are expected to be accomplished by the year 2000.
b) Objectives Principles and Policies
• Combined transportation, which is on the way to become the transport type of the 21st Century will also have impact on Turkey, which is a transit country as regards ports and other transport infrastructure within the 8th Plan period. It is aimed to improve, modernise and increase the capacity of our ports, considering the results of the Nationwide Port Development Master Plan to be accomplished by the year 2000, so that they will be convenient as regards quality and quantity to handle import and export freight and so that they will be the passage corridors regarding transit transportation traffic. Our ports shall be restructured regarding criteria such as dimension, administration style, and service approach so as to constitute a focal point/artery within the world transportation network.
• Within this restructuring, which is aiming at converting Turkey into a transportation corridor and transit resort on the east-west, north-south axes, importance shall be given on providing the Turkish Maritime Fleet with a structure that is in harmony with transportation demands from quantitative and qualitative point of view and that is in congruence with world standards and technological developments.
• In our maritime merchant fleet, there is a lack of vessels for scheduled transportation services. Utmost benefit shall be taken from supporting facilities by also utilising inter-sectoral opportunities in order to purchase, renew or get built by local shipbuilders of commercial vessels in the type of RO-RO, container, combined liner, ferry, cruiser, passenger vessel, petroleum tanker and LPG/LNG vessels within the 8th Plan period. At the end of the period, the tonnage of the merchant fleet is expected to reach 13 million DWT, including 2,5 million DWT renewals. The share of vessels under Turkish flag within international maritime transport shall be increased and reach the level of 40 percent.
• In case of membership to the EU, Turkey will have to terminate the monopoly of cabotage. With the required steering as regards cabotage the period of candidacy, necessary measures shall be taken to support freight and passenger vessels which are engaged in cabotage, in terms of port services and fuel in order to encourage the shift from highway transport to maritime transport. The coaster fleet, on the other hand, shall be strengthened in order to be ready for a probable EC competition.
• Our ports shall be operated according to modern management principles which are fitting to developments in the field of legislation and technology and which are based on competition with regional ports by pursuing a management policy in harmony with EU and other international port management strategies.
• By the end of the period, the handling of container in our ports is expected to reach 1.900.000 TEU. In line with the increase in the container traffic, the Marmara Port Project and the Project on Skimming and Enlargement of the Izmir Port shall be realised, the construction of the Derince Container Port shall be launched and studies on the North Aegian Port shall be concluded within the BOT model.
• The maritime legislation shall be made in harmony with the international legislation. Importance shall be given to sign bilateral agreements with EU countries as well as with other countries in order to reduce operation cost of the Turkish Maritime Merchant Fleet and to create new working areas. Regarding all bilateral maritime agreements and international conventions, relevant public and private institutions shall be consulted, to ensure participation.
• In the field of maritime and shipmen training, which has gained a universal dimension, importance shall be given on the training of seamen as envisaged in the STCW (Shipmen Training Certification and Watching) Convention.
c) Legal and Institutional Arrangements
• In addition to conventions on controls of port state we are a party of, the ratification of amendments and protocols to be furnished later on in due time shall be provided. Thus an efficient control and supervision instrument shall be established.
• By following up the arrangements of international conventions and by an effective participation to them, national benefits will be reflected on these arrangements. To realise this, the way of representation of standing groups, which will ensure a smooth, efficient and necessary coordination among international institutions such as IMO, ILO, UNCTAD will be defined and the translation of necessary international documents into Turkish in due time shall be provided.
• Amendments will be made in the maritime legislation, especially in the financial leasing legislation with a view to facilitate ship ownership and management of entrepreneurs.
• Necessary amendments shall be made in the legislation in order to implement indirect supports, which are being practised throughout the international arena in the field of new shipbuilding.
• The port management shall be made ready for international competition giving an autonomous structure.
