With the delivery of five rubber-tire gantry cranes (RTGs) and two ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes capable of handling Ultra-Large Containerships (ULCS) of up to 16,000 TEU capacity, the new 1.3 million TEU deep-water APM Terminals Izmir facility in Turkey is nearing completion, and is anticipated to commence operations in early 2016.
One more STS crane and five additional RTGs are scheduled to arrive in December, bringing the container handling equipment to three ULCS-ready STS cranes and 10 technologically advanced RTGs.
The opening of the new container terminal on Turkey’s Aegean coast, which will become Turkey’s biggest container terminal in the Aegean Region serving Istanbul and southern Turkey, respectively, will contribute significantly towards accommodating Turkish export growth.
Currently Europe’s seventh-largest economy, the Turkish government has announced plans to increase Turkey’s exports to US$500 billion annually by 2023.
Mogens Wolf Larsen, Managing Director of APMT Izmir, said: “Turkey’s very ambitious plans to become one of the world’s ten largest economies will rely in part upon new and greater access to the global logistics chain, and the larger vessels serving world trade, and we are proud that APM Terminals Izmir will play a large role in that process.”
Operating under a 28-year concession agreement with Turkish petrochemical conglomerate Petkim, APMT’s Izmir facility will have 700 metres of quay and a 16- metre depth during its first phase of development, with the ability to expand annual throughput capacity to four million TEU.
The new port, which is part of the Petkim Petrochemical Complex development geared for export production, represents an investment of $400 million, and will create 600 new jobs in Aliaga.
APMT Izmir expects to receive its first vessel call in March 2016.
