Turkey has sent off the first batch of tank cars to be used for oil and fuel transportation by the Iraq Republic Railways, the country’s national railway operator.

The delivery started on Saturday on the sidelines of a visit by Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank in the northwestern Kocaeli’s Dilovası district.

Produced by Cryocan company, tank cars were loaded onto trucks before departing for Iraq. The first of 50 units on which production had been completed were sent while a total of 400 units are still to be manufactured.

"Tank cars produced in Kocaeli with a high domestic rate will play a major role in the shift of Iraqi oil and fuel transportation from land to the railway," Varank said.

The company aims to complete the production of up to 100 tank cars by the end of 2021 and deliver them to Iraq, according to its General Manager Tekin Urhan.

Urhan said Iraq plans to shift its oil transport to a railway with around 2,000 tank cars.

"Iraq Republic Railways is currently carrying out a project to shift oil transport from land to rail. It has decided to walk in this project together with Cryocan," Urhan noted.

"We are sending the first of 50 tanks now. This production will continue up to 400 units. Our deliveries will continue until the end of 2022," the general manager said.

Fuel-oil, crude oil or LPG can be stored in the tank cars that Cryocan has produced for Iraq, Urhan noted.

"The design is completely ours. It is designed and manufactured by our own engineers. As a second step, we have started to produce LPG tank cars for projects aimed at transporting LPG on railways. The first prototype is ready," he said.

Founded in 2009, Cryocan has been growing by 70% on average, settling among the fastest growing companies in Turkey, Varank said.

The firm produces cars from 1 cubic meter to 5,000 cubic meters with high-pressure ranging from 1 bar to 100 bars.

"This is a company that cares about R&D (research and development) and innovation and invests in this field. They can produce high-tech, value-added products such as nitrogen and liquid hydrogen tanks used in the defense industry, particle accelerator and space technologies," Varank said.

Nearly 80% of the company’s sales come from its exports to some 66 countries, the minister noted.

Urhan said they have been manufacturing cryogenic and pressure vessels in Dilovası for 10 years.

Stating that the products are used in the storage of liquid industrial gases, Urhan noted that the design, R&D (research and development) and production are being all being performed in-house at the facilities in Dilovası.