Ship and yacht exports, which contracted by more than 10% in the first 7 months of the year due to the ships not being delivered to Russia, increased by 70% in September after increasing by 32% on an annual basis in August. In shipbuilding, the sector that increased its exports the most in September, the hope for a new record increased at the end of the year.
The sector achieved an export of 199 million 350 thousand dollars in September with an increase of 70% compared to the same period of the previous year. The shipbuilding sector increased its exports the most last month, which started the year 2022 with a new record target, exports began to decline due to the ships that could not be delivered to Russia due to the war. Turkish shipyards, which experienced a 60% loss in exports in June on an annual basis, also experienced a contraction of over 40% in July. Thus, in the first 7 months of the year, exports contracted by more than 10% on an annual basis.
The embargo imposed on Russia, which is an important market, especially for fishing vessel orders, that are nearing the end cannot be delivered to the Russian buyer. The equipment used on ships with Russian buyers is generally of EU origin. Due to the embargo imposed by the war, equipment companies do not serve Russian ships for the start-up process. Despite this, the sector accelerated again in exports in August with increased deliveries to other markets, especially to Norway. Ship and yacht exports increased by 30% in August compared to the same period of the previous year, and this rate reached 70% in September. Thus, the 9-month exports of the shipyards increased by 1.2% compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 999 million dollars.
According to the news of Dünya Gazetesi, Ship, Yacht and Services Exporters’ Association (GYHİB) President Cem Seven said, “As of September, our exports are parallel to the first 9 months of last year. If ships with various features built for Russia could be delivered, our export figures would have been much higher than the export figures for the first 9 months of last year. If similar export amounts can be reached in the remaining three months of the year compared to the previous year, we will break a new export record in 2022.”
Türkiye’s ships and yachts in 2021 exceeded 1 billion 626 million dollars, breaking the record.
Most exports to Norway
In the first 9 months of 2022, Norway was the country to which the most exports were made while Russia took second place. Malta followed Russia. On a product group basis, the highest number of passenger boats and ferries were exported. Fishing vessels, sea tankers, and tugs followed.
“Unable to overcome the problem with access to finance”
As in many other sectors, there is a problem with access to finance in shipbuilding. Industry officials say that it is difficult to get new jobs due to financial problems. GYHİB President Cem Seven said, “There are great difficulties in delivering the letters of guarantee with a maturity of more than one year to the customer by obtaining counter-guarantees from banks in Europe. Based on the BRSA’s decisions, our exporters, who hold foreign currency over a certain part of their turnover, cannot use TL loans. In other words, in addition to the letter of guarantee problem we have been experiencing since 2018, TL loans cannot be reached. In foreign currency loans, the interest is both high and the supply is not sufficient.”