Frequent sailings support Türkiye’s heavy-vehicle exports

Last year, Türkiye produced nearly 1.6 million vehicles and exported 1.3 million of them. Thanks to its strategic location, its superior production expertise and its low-cost production, the country is the preferred manufacturing hub of global automotive industry leaders.

Companies like Renault, Fiat, Toyota, Ford and Hyundai produce passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, while Mercedes-Benz, MAN, Temsa, Isuzu, Krone and other larger global producers produce heavy vehicles in Türkiye. At the same time, importers and other local suppliers within the automotive sector dominate both Turkish and neighbouring foreign markets.

Just-in-time delivery

The production of heavy commercial vehicles is spread across different regions of Türkiye. However, the largest factories are in Marmara, a region in north-western Türkiye, in the south-eastern Mediterranean and in the central part of Türkiye. They rely on DFDS to provide frequent sailings between Türkiye and Europe, and for a range of value-added services that it provides to logistics suppliers, producers, and importers throughout the supply chain.

DFDS currently offers four weekly round-trip sailings from Pendik (eastern Istanbul), four sailings from Yalova (southeast of Istanbul), three sailings from Ambarlı (western Istanbul) to Trieste, three round-trip sailings from Pendik to Toulon, two sailings from Mersin (south-eastern Mediterranean) to Trieste and two sailings to Bari from Pendik and Yalova on round trip basis.

Expert roots in the region

“The frequency of our freight ferry lines allows just-in-time delivery for the most demanding automotive customers,” says VP of Business Development of DFDS in Istanbul, Fuat Pamukcu. “It also makes us the first choice of heavy commercial vehicles producers in the region.”

In June 2018, DFDS acquired U.N. Ro-Ro, Türkiye’s leading freight ferry company, and its fleet of 12 owned vessels. The transportation of truck heads, chassis, new trailers, busses and other heavy commercial vehicles has been one of its key businesses since 1994. Today, the division carries over 20,000 new heavy commercial units a year.

For more information about transport opportunities in the Mediterranean, please contact Fuat at fupam@dfds.com.