Turkish multimodal transport firm Arkas has received its first shipment at the Autoport facility it runs in the city of Yeniköy in northeast Turkey. The M/V Toba, operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, unloaded 147 automobiles and 119 units of construction equipment as well as spare parts.
Built with an investment of $25 million, Autoport, which began operations in June, is the first terminal in the country to serve multiple carmakers and has an annual capacity of 400,000 vehicles. It is built on 16 hectares of land and features two piers (328 metres and 246 metres long) able to support simultaneous docking. The terminal was developed in partnership with Japan’s Mitsui & Co, which owns a 29 per cent stake in the facility.
All operations at the port are managed by a computer management system called I-Tracks which gives customers instant access to the current status of their vehicles, including tracking and the maintenance of operational and customer services.
The terminal is located in the Mamara region, where 80 per cent of the country’s automotive production is carried out. The Turkish vehicle industry, which manufactures more than a million motor vehicles per year and generates approximately 20 per cent of Turkey’s total exports, depends mainly on shipping for import and export activity.