Some 600 cruise ships call at Turkish ports: Minister

ANKARA - Demirören News Agency

Nearly 600 cruise ships carrying more than 550,000 passengers have called at Turkish ports in the first eight months of this year, Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu has said.

Pointing out that maritime transport, which plays an important role in world trade, has developed in Türkiye over the last 20 years, Karaismailoğlu said, “We are gaining in ‘Blue Homeland’ with our investments in the maritime sector.”

“We also see the contribution of these investments to the economy and our trade,” Karaismailoğlu noted.

“The number of ships calling at our ports was 597, while 552,581 passengers visited our ports,” said the minister, adding that the number of vehicles transported on ro-ro lines with international connections increased by 13.9 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 475,326.

Foreign trade shipments in the period from January to August increased by 4.2 percent compared to the same period of the last year and amounted to 264.6 million tons,” he said.

“The number of foreign-traded containers handled at our ports in August increased by 4.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 819,971 TEUs, while container shipments for export purposes increased by 3.3 percent to 416,904 TEUs.

A TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) is an exact unit of measurement used to determine cargo capacity for container ships and terminals.