Aliağa port is running to the top

While Turkey made a great leap forward in exports in 2022, the ports in Izmir also made a difference. Aliağa Port Authority, which has 14 piers in total, ranked second by closing the gap between Kocaeli with 68 million handlings, according to its data in the first 10 months.

İzmir Aliağa Port Authority took the second place after Kocaeli Port Authority, which handled 73 million 889 thousand 877 tons and 81 million 335 thousand 143 tons last year. According to the data in the first 10 months of 2022, it was seen that the difference between Aliağa and Kocaeli was closed to a great extent.

With the attack of Aliağa Port Authority this year, the difference between it and Kocaeli Port Authority decreased to almost 2 million tons. According to the Maritime Statistics of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure; In the first 10 months of this year, 70 million 165 thousand 457 tons were handled in Kocaeli. A total of 68 million 125 thousand 434 tons of handling was done in Aliağa. In 2020, Kocaeli's handling was 76 million 517 thousand 625 tons, while Aliağa's was 68 million 946 thousand tons.
Stating that the recent recession in the global economy has also directly affected maritime trade, Yusuf Öztürk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IMEAK Chamber of Shipping İzmir Branch, said, "Even though there has been a decline in container transportation in our country, the total volume of cargo handled at our ports continues to increase with the effect of liquid cargoes. "Our region has become a transfer center. In the first 10 months, 454 million tons of cargo, including all kinds of cargo, was handled at the ports of our country. The cargo handled at the ports and piers in our Aliağa region increased to 68 million tons, and the cargo handled at Izmir Port exceeded 7 million tons," he said.

Emphasizing that the amount of cargo handled in İzmir Ports, together with Çeşme and Dikili Ports, is approaching 80 million tons, Öztürk said, "We believe that the freight volume in our ports will continue to increase thanks to the new industrial investments and strong export potential in our Aegean Region. In this direction, railway and highway investments that will connect the industrial zones to the ports are planned. "With these steps, we can unload more cargo from the land to the sea and increase the competitiveness of our country," he said.