Business

The shipbuilding industry will sail abroad with the guarantee of Eximbank

Turk Eximbank’s Foreign Letter of Guarantee Program was used for the first time in the shipbuilding industry, and with this support, fishing vessels were exported to Norway.

According to the information obtained by the AA correspondent from Turk Eximbank, within the scope of the Foreign Letter of Guarantee Program, the letters of guarantee required by the companies operating in the contracting and shipbuilding sectors in their foreign business are issued.

Within the scope of the program, for the first time, the letter of guarantee problem of a company operating in the shipping industry was resolved and it was enabled to export ships. Benefiting from the said program, Cemre Marin Industry Inc. exported fishing vessels to Norway.

“We started to meet the letter of guarantee needs of exporters”

Turk Eximbank General Manager Ali Guney stated to the AA correspondent that they are working hard to stand by the exporters during the epidemic, to provide financial support and to pave the way for companies in new markets. He said that with a letter of guarantee abroad, they started to meet the needs of contracting companies, shipbuilding companies, companies exporting investment goods, temporary letters of guarantee, permanent letters of guarantee and advance letters of guarantee.

Expressing that it is pleasing that the shipbuilding industry has started to benefit from this opportunity, Guney stated that they aim to contribute to the export of the shipbuilding industry to the whole world, especially to the Northern European countries, to reach the level of $2 billion.

Guney said,

“Intensive negotiations with Europe’s leading banks in order for our shipbuilding industry to benefit from the Foreign Letter of Guarantee program, which we put into practice last year, bore fruit. With the letter of guarantee given by our bank, Cemre Marin Industry Inc. exported fishing vessels to Norway. I find this process very valuable in terms of taking additional projects and producing alternative solutions for their financing needs for our export companies operating in the shipbuilding sector during the pandemic period, which has negatively affected all sectors. I consider the letters of guarantee to be issued by our bank for the sector as an important step that will carry the exports of the sector, which is among the top 5 exporting countries in the world in fisheries and tugboat exports and among the top 10 exporting countries in ferry exports and custom-made ship exports.”

General Manager Guney emphasized that they will increase their financing opportunities with reinsurance/guarantee agreements signed with foreign institutions, in addition to buyer loans and letters of guarantee provided for the export transactions of defense industry, investment goods and ships and projects to be realized by contractors abroad.

“With this program, we can double our export volume as the shipbuilding industry”

Cemre Marin Industry Inc. Deputy General Manager Omer Ozeroglu stated that they used the first letter of guarantee within the scope of the program. Explaining that they have been working with the Ship, Yacht and Services Exporters’ Association and Turk Eximbank for a long time to solve the problems of letters of guarantee, Ozeroglu said that the problem they experienced in adding a European bank confirmation to the letters of guarantee prevented them from signing new contracts, and that many requests shifted to shipyards in other European countries.

Expressing that the work they did with Turk Eximbank in this process contributed to the solution of the problem and that the bank provided letters of guarantee through correspondent banks in Europe, Ozeroglu said, “This is a first. We, as the shipbuilding industry, can now double our export volume with this program. Our exports are increasing day by day. Last year, around $1.3 billion were exported as a sector. With the resolution of the financing problem, the export figures double annually. In the first half of this year, we realized our exports above expectations.”

Noting that the investments, which were stopped due to the epidemic, have been reactivated, and that the sector has a voice in the international arena in environmentally friendly and new technology ships, Ozeroglu noted that the demand for the sector has increased because of this. Pointing out that Turkish shipyards should not miss this opportunity, Ozeroglu said, “We have a good brand value. If such financing problems are resolved, our capacity will be full and many inactive shipyards will have the chance to produce. We request that this package be provided in the form of a loan financing package specific to the shipbuilding industry. We want to announce this support to the whole industry. This package will give great momentum to the sector and the country’s export earnings will increase. With the Turk Eximbank program, we can increase our ship export volume by bringing many foreign businesses to Turkey more comfortably.”

Source: AA / Translated by Irem Yildiz

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