Turkey’s largest container port to open in June

Turkey's largest container-only port will be open for service from June, as construction work is about to finish.

Asyaport, which will have a capacity of 2.5 million TEU, will be one of the top 100 container ports in the world and share the burden of the busy Ambarlı Port located in Istanbul's European side, which is used for multiple purposes.

The port, which is a joint venture of the world's second largest container operator Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Turkish Soyuer Group, is under construction in the Barbaros district of northwestern province of Tekirdağ by the Sea of Marmara.

Spanning 320,000 square meters with two kilometers of wharf length and 20 meters of depth, the port will also serve as Turkey's first transit container port.

Electric energy will be used to power the ports' 11 ship-to-shore gantry cranes and 33 rubber tyre gantry cranes to sustain an environmental approach.

Asyaport is expected to provide 1,200 additional jobs to Tekirdağ, which is seeking to expand itself as a logistical center for the heavily industrialized Thrace region with its sea, land and railroad connections.

The port's operation manager Kadir Uzun said that MSC will use the port as one of its main destinations.

Uzun said that the port is projected to serve the world's largest container ships with 19,000 TEU capacities. With these features, the port aims to become the third largest container in Europe, Uzun said.