Türkiye enters top 10 in maritime trade in 2025: Minister

ISTANBUL

Türkiye entered the top 10 countries in maritime trade in 2025, with the Turkish-owned maritime fleet with a deadweight capacity of 53.1 million, according to the transportation minister.

"Our Turkish-owned merchant marine fleet, with a capacity of 53.1 million deadweight tons, has risen from 11th to 10th in the world rankings," Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said in a meeting in Istanbul.

Uraloğlu said that the fleet, which ranked 17th in 2002 with 8.9 million deadweight tonnage, reached 2,203 vessels in the first half of 2025, placing it in the top 10 in global maritime trade.

"This represents an approximately sixfold increase in deadweight tonnage compared to 2002. This success has once again demonstrated the strength and determination of the Turkish maritime industry," he said.

Noting that 88 percent of global freight transport was carried out by sea in 2024, Uraloğlu said, adding: “Global maritime freight traffic increased by 2.4 percent, reaching 12.643 billion tons. In our country, 86 percent of foreign trade transport is carried out by sea. These figures once again demonstrate the strategic importance of maritime transport in international trade.”

He said that the amount of cargo handled at ports has increased by 180 percent and the amount of containers by 443 percent since 2002.

“In 2024, the amount of containers handled at our ports reached 13.529 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Between January and August of this year, the amount of cargo handled at our ports increased by 3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 366.799 million tons," Uraloglu noted.

He also emphasized that Türkiye has five ports in the global top 100 ports that handle the most containers.