Hundreds of commercial ships, from liquid fuel tankers to vehicle carriers, from container ships to dry cargo ships, are going from Turkey to Israel.
In the first 9 months of the year, the number of direct voyages from Turkey to Israel reached 456. There were 302 voyages from Turkey to Haifa and 154 to Ashdod. Exporters in the Mediterranean Region continued to send their products to Israel over the past year. While Iskenderun port ranked first in voyages to Israel with 130 ships in 9 months, it was followed by Mersin with 103 voyages. 80 ships departed from Nemrut port in Izmir Aliağa to the ports of Haifa and Ashdod. Also, a total of 45 ships went directly to Israel from the ports located within the borders of the Gulf of Kocaeli, which is a strategic exit point for both industrial loads and metal and chemical products.
Of the 456 voyages from ports from which an average of 50 ships depart each month, 176 were container ships, 118 were general cargo ships, 79 were Ro-Ro ships, 35 were bulk carriers, and 30 were tankers. Container and general cargo transport constituted two-thirds of the voyages.
From the ports, 110 ships with the Panamanian flag, 98 with the Liberian flag, and ships with the Marshall Islands and Cameroonian flags, which are among the most common flags in both Turkey and the world, departed. Although the country officially stopped trade with Israel, 8 separate Turkish-flagged ships also set off for Israeli ports.
While ships with Turkish names can be observed every day in the ports and anchorages of Haifa and Ashdod, ships belonging to the Deval company, which the Ministry of Trade claimed last September “were moving for trade with Palestine, not Israel,” are still present in these ports. The company is only one of the companies with Turkish names or headquarters like Ottoman, Hızır on the list of 456 ships.
Source: Melisa AY / Birgün
