According to the news of Aysel Yücel from Dünya Newspaper, Sedef Shipyard, owned by the Kalkavan Family, will build two container ships for Turkon Line, a subsidiary of the same group. The construction of a container ship will begin at Turkish shipyards for the first time in 12 years.
For the first time in history, while container ship orders exceeded tanker and dry cargo, Turkish investors also got into the game. Not just a fleet investment, but 12 years later, the Turkish shipyard took action to build a container ship again. Sedef Shipyard, owned by the Kalkavan Family, will build two container ships for Turkon Lines, a subsidiary of the same group.
Turkish shipowners expand their container ship fleet
The container crisis that emerged in the global supply chain with the pandemic also accelerated ship investments in this field. Shipowners, who achieved historical profitability with the freight that increased nearly 10 times during the pandemic period, also broke records with their ship orders. According to the report published recently by Clarksons Research, the leading international research company in the maritime industry, the number of container ships entered in the order book of shipyards around the world has reached 900 since the last quarter of 2020.
The total tonnage of these ships is 7 million TEU (76 million DWT). Dry cargo ship orders remained at 69 million DWT in the same period while tanker orders remained at 35 million DWT. Turkish shipowners are also expanding their container ship fleet.
New orders continue to be placed for the Turkish-owned container ship fleet, which grew by 15 percent last year with the investments of players from outside the sector such as OBA Makarna. Finally, it has been learned that Turkon Line, owned by the Kalkavan Family, one of the deep-rooted investors in shipping, has ordered two container ships.
She will be delivered in 2024
The Kalkavan Family is not only expanding the fleet but also returning to container shipbuilding. Turkon Line will have two 4,000 TEU container ships built at Sedef Shipyard in Tuzla, which is also owned by the Kalkavan Family. The ship will be delivered in 2024. Thus, the construction of a container ship will start again in Turkiye after 22 years.
Since the Turkish shipyards could not compete with the Far Eastern shipyards after the global economic crisis in 2008, which hit the maritime industry, they stopped the construction of commercial vessels such as tankers, dry cargo, and containers and turned to the construction of special purpose boats such as fishing vessels and tugs. Sedef Shipyard had also built the last container ship in Turkiye. The shipyard received a container ship order in 2008 and launched her in 2010.
Tanker orders are at 25-year low
While container ship orders are breaking records globally, tankers and bulk carriers are experiencing a historic decline. Tankers and bulk carriers account for 75 percent of the world’s fleet capacity, but newbuilding deals are limited. The global tanker order book has dropped to its lowest level in 25 years, according to a report by Clarksons Research. It’s at a record low of just 5% of fleet capacity. Dry cargo ships are at their lowest level in 18 years. It is predicted that the capacity of operational bulk carriers and tankers will increase by less than 1 percent in 2023, and the total fleet will grow by 1.7 percent based on DWT.