Transshipment volumes at Turkish ports rise significantly

Seaports in Turkey, the transcontinental nation’s ports, received additional cargo because Turkey did not ban Russian-flagged ships, as the United States, the European Union and many Asian nations did in their sanctions over Ukraine’s invasion in late February.

Data show that from January to April this year, the transshipment cargo throughput of Turkish ports increased by 6,000 tons year-on-year.

From January 2022 to April 2022, the port handled 130.8 million tons of goods, including 27.7 million tons of transit goods, and 124.9 million tons of goods in the same period in 2021, including 24.4 million tons of transit goods.

However, the blockade of the Black Sea has a significant impact on the transshipment of Russian and Ukrainian goods at Turkish ports. The Black Sea washes off the coasts of Russia and Ukraine, and the two countries are now fighting each other, so their foreign trade is greatly hindered.

Turkey’s largest port on the Black Sea, Samsun, handled 3 million tons of cargo in the first four months of this year, compared with 3.6 million in the same period last year, data from the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure showed. 

Turkish ports have also received more cargo from other countries in the Black Sea as Bulgaria and Romania have banned Russian ocean shipping ships from their ports.

Between January and April 2022, Turkish ports received 1.2 million tons of cargo from Bulgaria and 2.4 million tons from Romania during the same period.

Meanwhile, Turkish ports from Georgia received 799,572 tonnes of cargo between January and April 2022, compared to 696,087 tonnes in the same period last year.