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Further Reading

Turkey - Shipbuilding

Ship building is a 600 years old tradition in Turkey. The first shipyard was established in 1390. By the 16th century Turkish shipyards were already largest in the world. Traditional shipbuilding skills combined with modern techniques and education has enabled the Turkish shipbuilding industry to develop into an internationally known trademark since the early 1990’s Turkish ship and yacht building industry has modern, technological developed and quality certified shipyards together with well experienced work force. In Turkey’s shipyards brand new ships, Yachts, mega Yachts, and sailing boats are being manufactured. In addition to these, repair and maintenance services are provided for vessels.

In the beginning, mostly wooden ships and yachts were being manufactured. Later started the manufacturing of ships/yachts made of sheet iron. With its 600 years of history, shipbuilding today is in compliance with the international standards, thanks to efforts of the young entrepreneurs. The initial objective of the sector was merely to meet the needs of the Turkish Naval Commerce Fleet. However, having confirmed its technological competency outside Turkey, and especially to the European countries, today this sector has gained a considerable export potential.

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%. 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 rose from 0.9% to 1.4% making Turkey 5th in shipbuilding behind Germany which occupies 4th place with a share of 3.6%. With these developments the Turkish ministry of transport"s bureau for maritime affairs expanded its goals to become 4th by 2010. Turkish 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. We used to build ships of up to 20,000 tonnes maximum but we are currently able to build ships of up to 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes. Turkish shipbuilding capacity rose from 654,000 DWT in 2003 to 1.4 million DWT in 2009 and the amount of sheet steel processed in shipyards has doubled. Maintenance and repair capacity have also seen a considerable increase. A million ton yearly capacity has been reached with the restructuring of some other shipyards.

The Turkish shipbuilding industry shone brightly for a brief period between 2005 and 2008, increasing orders tenfold and moving from 23rd position to eighth, growing 360 percent in the process compared to a global average of 89 percent. Since the global financial crisis however, hundreds of orders have been cancelled and few new ones made. By 2011, shipyards in Istanbul's Tuzla district, home of some 40 percent of national production, reported employment drops of 77 percent.

The construction of the domestic fleet and the ships required by Turkey's Undersecretariat of the Defense Industry (SSM), along with public service ships and the reconstruction of the coaster fleet, are important projects for Turkish shipyards. Thanks to the SSM project MilGem, ships required by naval forces are built in Turkish shipyards. In fact, orders for these ships have even been received from NATO countries. In addition, Landing Platform Docks (LPD) are constructed in Turkish shipyards.

The Turkish navy has traditionally either bought its vessels secondhand, particularly from the United States, or had them built by foreign shipyards. The MILGEM project has its origins in a 1996 plan to have German MEKO A-100 corvettes built in Turkish shipyards. The Turkish navy subsequently shelved the idea and decided to try to build the country's first entirely indigenous modern warship using Turkish shipyards, universities, and companies.

Today, in Turkey's 60 modernized shipyards (2 public sector, 3 military and others private and most of them are located in Tuzla Shipyards area ) brand new ships, yachts, mega-yachts and sailing boats are being manufactured.