2007

Turkish Delight

With a record audience of 250 including an influential Member of Parliament, shipowners, financiers, and professionals from around the world, Metin Kalkavan, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Turkish Chamber of Shipping opened marine Money’s 4th annual Istanbul Ship Finance Forum with an inspiring report on the dramatic growth and health of the Turkish shipping scene.

The Minister of Transport and the Undersecretary of Maritime Affairs, while regretting they could not attend, sent five Deputies.

With an ebullient shipping market generally and a steady stream of vessels transiting the Bosporus outside the conference venue, it would be hard to have been more dramatic than the newbuilding statistics Mr Kalkavan delivered to the audience. Forty-five days ago the Turkish shipyard orderbook stood at 423 vessels. Today not even two months later that order book stands at 528! Ninety-one come from foreign owners, 215 from Turkish owners alone, with a further 222 speculative orders, which enable yard construction regularity and may be sold or operated. Two hundred twenty-seven are tankers, and the total value reaches seven billion dollars.

This is only an excerpt of People & Places – 04/12/2007

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