Foreign Companies Increasingly Dominant in Ro-Ro Trips to Europe

76% of all RoRo Transportations conducted from our ports are delivered to European ports. Those are followed by the trips to other countries' ports in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. So, it is easy to say that the trips to Europe have a significant economic potential in Ro-Ro transportation.

There used to be 3 Turkish companies that offered Ro-Ro Transportation services to European ports: U.N Ro Ro, Ekol Lojistik and Ulusoy Denizcilik. In June, U.N Ro Ro has been purchased by the Danish shipping company DFDS. As a result, DFDS began operating the RoRo trips conducted by U.N RoRo between Pendik, Ambarlı, Mersin and Trieste, Toulon, Bari and Patras Ports. In December, the same Danish company has made a cooperation agreement with Ekol Lojistik. As a result of this agreement, DFDS now has control of the RoRo trips between Yalova and Lavrio, Trieste and Sete Ports.

On December 21, 2018; DFDS has published a statement on its website that says: "We expect to increase the volumes of freight units in the Mediterranean by close to 30 %." In the same statement, Peder Gellert, Executive Vice President and Head of DFDS’ Shipping Division said: "I am very pleased to inform that we have signed a contract for the use of a recently built RoRo terminal in Yalova southeast of Istanbul. " and emphasized the strategic importance of the Yalova Port in question.

Again, in December, Port Akdeniz Antalya Port and U.N Ro Ro company have signed an agreement and announced that RoRo trips will begin from Antalya Port as of January 2019.  Considering the sales of U.N Ro Ro to DFDS, the trips between Mersin, Antalya and Trieste Ports shall be conducted by DFDS.

Following these developments at U.N Ro Ro and Ekol Lojistik companies, Ulusoy Denizcilik is the only Turkish company that conducts RoRo transportation to Trieste. The company schedules 3 trips between Çeşme-Trieste Ports each week.

We wanted to discuss the growing hegemony of foreign companies in the RoRo trips conducted from Turkish ports to European ports. We began discussing with the relevant authorities. In the following pages, you can find the details shared by the General Manager of T.R. Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure's Marine and Inland Waters Organization Directorate. As MY TRUCK Magazine, we shall follow up and continue to discuss this topic on our following issues.