Thanks to its location in the middle of Asia, Europe, and Africa and being surrounded by seas on three sides, Turkey offers important opportunities to foreign investors in terms of logistics. Here is the 2023 goal in Turkey logistics …
Being located in the middle of Asia, Europe and Africa and being surrounded by seas on three sides, Turkey provides important opportunities to foreign investors in terms of logistics.
According to the information compiled by the Anadolu Agency correspondent, while significant investments have been made in land, air, and sea transportation in recent years, this situation has been reflected in freight and cargo transportation, and therefore in foreign trade figures.
In the past 18 years, around ₺930 billion in logistics investments were made, 62% of this was road investments. During this period, the approximate amount of road investments was calculated as ₺566 billion.
The purpose of establishing logistics centers: According to the news on Logistics Line, logistics centers have great benefits for all transportation systems, the region they are located in, and the international transportation corridors. Logistics centers not only contribute to the economic and social development of the city where they are located but also provide a sigh of relief to urban traffic. It is possible to establish freight stations in the city center in a modern way that can respond to freight logistics needs, in accordance with technological and economic developments, in an area that has effective road transportation and can be preferred by customers, as in European countries. Logistics centers, which are seen as the heart of modern freight transport and develop combined transport in integration with other transport systems, have the characteristic of being a turning point in freight transport. It also makes important contributions to being more effective in the international transportation corridor.
What will logistics centers provide?
- 10 million tons of additional transportation opportunity per year to the Turkish logistics industry
- Road-rail-seaway integration
- Providing trade opportunities
- Reducing traffic congestion
- Promoting growth in the economic sector
- Providing job opportunities and access to work
- Environmental regulation and protection
- Good use of land
- Greening the environment and protecting natural resources
When did the Turkey logistics center establishment project start?
In 2006, TCDD initiated the establishment of logistics centers in order to establish freight centers at certain points where all systems are integrated, all services related to freight transport are provided in the best way, administrative, technical, social, and all needs of customers can be met, and to ensure customer satisfaction by increasing the transportation and transportation quality.
Where will the logistics centers be established?
The importance of logistics centers where storage and transportation services are offered together with road, rail, seaway and airway access, depending on the location, and combined transportation facilities are increasing day by day. TCDD aims to establish similar facilities at 16 points of different scales. These centers are Istanbul (Halkali / Yesilbayir), Izmit (Kosekoy), Samsun (Gelemen), Eskisehir (Hasanbey), Kayseri (Bogazkopru), Balikesir (Gokkoy), Mersin (Yenice), Usak, Erzurum (Palandoken), Konya (Kayacik), Denizli (Kaklik), Bilecik (Bozuyuk), Kahramanmaras (Turkoglu), Mardin, Kars, Sivas logistics centers.
With the planned logistics centers, within the 2023 targets; It is planned to establish “Global Logistics Centers” with a size of 2-4 million square meters in Istanbul, Mersin, Izmir, and Samsun with the cooperation of the private sector, which can meet the geographical, historical and cultural needs of Turkey.
According to which geographic features and strategy the logistics centers to be implemented are located: When we look at the 16 logistics centers that are aimed to be built, it is seen that they are built in every region of our country, primarily in connection with organized industrial zones, in regions with high load-carrying potential. Regions with effective connections to all kinds of transport modes in which logistics and transportation companies and relevant official institutions are involved, and also regions that have the opportunity to perform activities such as storage, maintenance-repair, loading-unloading, handling, weighing, dividing, combining, packaging, etc. and the regions with low cost, fast, safe, transfer area, and equipment between transport modes are involved.
The number of logistics centers completed: Samsun (Gelemen), Halkali, Usak were put into operation, the 1st stage of the construction works of Denizli (Kaklik), Izmit (Kosekoy), Eskisehir (Hasanbey), Kayseri (Bogazkopru) was completed. Construction works for the 2nd stage works of Eskisehir (Hasanbey), the 1st stage of Erzurum (Palandoken), and the Balıkesir (Gokkoy) have started. Studies on other logistics centers continue.
How will the private sector take part in logistics center projects?
Turkey is planned to constitute trains, maneuvering, and loading-unloading areas, which are considered as the railway core network of these centers, and the mandatory facilities for railway transportation are planned to be built by TCDD, warehouse, social and commercial facilities, and other logistics areas are planned to be built by the private sector.
How will the logistics and transportation system contribute to logistics center projects?
When the logistics centers are put into operation, they will provide the best services related to freight transportation, meet all administrative, technical and social needs of the customers, increase the quality of transportation and transport and provide customer satisfaction, as well as contribute to the commercial potential, economic, social and cultural development of the region where they are located.
What is the 2023 goal of TCDD in freight transportation outside the logistics center?
Increasing the share of the railway sector in Turkey’s freight transport relatively to its level is among the 2023 targets. In this context, the construction of the new YHT lines planned will be completed, the passenger transportation will be shifted to these lines, the maintenance, repair and renewal projects of the existing conventional lines will be completed, electrical and signaled. In this way, capacity will be increased and will be allocated to freight transports. Also, new double lines will increase the efficiency and quality of transports with towed vehicles with new technology, and after ensuring customer satisfaction, the amount of freight transported on the railroad will increase.
For this purpose; Construction works of projects such as logistics centers, junction lines, Marmaray, Kars-Tbilisi-Baku, Kars-Nakhchivan-Iran, Nusaybin-Mosul-Basra Railway Project, Van Lake Ferry Crossing by TCDD, Kavkaz-Samsun and Derince-Tekirdag, Bandirma-Tekirdag Ferry Project, etc. are continuing.
Civil airports have a total annual passenger capacity of 317.85 million
Connecting continents on the East-West axis, Turkey has also made significant investments in air transportation.
Turkey, which has implemented serious projects in this field, especially the mega-city Istanbul Airport, has 56 airports open to civil air traffic as of last year, and these airports have a total annual passenger capacity of 317.85 million.
Passenger traffic was ₺208.9 million as of the end of 2019, while this number was ₺81.7 million according to uncertain data, despite the negative effects of the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic that affected the whole world last year.
Railway investments
Railway investments were also among the activities that increased Turkey’s logistics capacity in recent years.
Block freight trains are operated to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Czechia and Germany towards Europe, and to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan via Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Line, and again to Russia and China over this line.
While block freight trains are operated to Iran and beyond, through the Van / Kapikoy border station, work is underway to operate trains to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
139 million export cargo handled in ports last year
Surrounded by the sea on three sides, Turkey is also an important country in terms of trade through ports.
The Bosporus and Dardanelles straits provide the countries with coasts to the Black Sea to reach further south regions, while also ensuring that these countries are in contact with the rest of the world by sea.
There are 182 coastal facilities that have the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS) certificate and provide commercial freight transportation services throughout the country.
486 million 702 thousand 168 tons of cargo were handled in these facilities last year, and 138 million 902 thousand 823 tons of this were export cargoes. In the same year, 365.4 million tons of foreign trade was carried out, including 226.5 million tons of imports and 138.9 million tons of exports.
“Turkey is a strong candidate to become the world’s production and supply center”
Gursel Baran, President of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO), stated that the coronavirus epidemic changed the trade balance of the world while bringing opportunities for Turkey.
Baran said that Turkey, which has been successfully struggling in the field of health and economy in the process of combating the epidemic, has increased its visibility in the world on the one hand and attracted the attention of investors who are looking for alternatives for production.
Stating that Turkey stands out as a strong candidate for becoming the production and supply center of the world in terms of geographical location, workforce resource, and potential, Baran said:
“I believe that the economic and legal reforms to be carried out in our country under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will further increase the confidence of investors. Turkey is a country with low risk, high confidence, satisfactory earnings, and geographically advantageous, and investors have the opportunity to invest in many sectors.”
Stating that Turkey is an attractive country for foreign investors with its advanced transportation facilities, newly built bridges, airports, trade, developed tourism, congress tourism, and entertainment life, Baran added saying that Turkey has easy access to customers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
“Direct investments will expand the portfolio”
Nurettin Ozdebir, President of the Ankara Chamber of Industry (ASO), said that Turkey needs to export, and for this, foreign investors are needed.
Stating that companies can easily distribute to the Gulf countries and North Africa from Turkey, Ozdebir said, “We are now connecting not only to China but also to the Turkish republics on that route, by the train we call ‘Silk Railway’.”
Stating that some companies were hesitant about the Turkish market with the thought of “taking our technology and adding it to their own industries”, Ozdebir said, “With the passing of the first state of closure during the pandemic period, we witnessed that companies that did not even want to offer us re-established connections with sub-industry organizations. I think our investment portfolio will expand with the increase of direct investments here. “
Source: Emlakkulisi / Translated by Irem Yildiz