The 38th Regular Council Meeting of the Istanbul and Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean, Black Sea Regions (İMEAK) Chamber of Shipping Kocaeli Branch for the month of November was held in the branch council hall under the direction of Council Vice President Yılmaz Sarıaslan. Council President Vefa İbrahim Aracı attended the council from abroad via ‘zoom’. After the moment of silence and the recitation of the National Anthem, Sarıaslan, who made the opening speech of the meeting, greeted the attendees and presented the council agenda and program flow.
The agenda of the November council meeting was determined as ‘Search and Rescue Activities’. Attendees of the meeting included; Kocaeli University (KOÜ) Faculty of Maritime Dean Prof. Dr. Nalan Tekin, KOÜ Faculty of Maritime Vice Dean Assoc. Prof. Dr. Umur Bucak, Kocaeli Regional Board for the Protection of Cultural Assets Deputy Director Onur Kamiloğlu, Kocaeli Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Head Murat Coşkun, Association of Surveillance Companies (GÖŞİDER) Board President Bahadır Bektaş Arığ, SAR Search and Rescue and Emergency Aid Association, School Principals, student clubs, educators, NGO representatives, and maritime stakeholders.
Doğusel: I pray to God for mercy on our martyrs and citizens
Vedat Doğusel, Chairman of the Board of the İMEAK Chamber of Shipping Kocaeli Branch, who made the opening speech of the council, said, “November was a month in which we received sad news one after another. While we lost four of our citizens due to the collapse of a building in Gebze, a few days after this incident, we lost five lives in a fire that broke out in a perfume filling workshop in Dilovası. We pray to God for mercy on our lost citizens and offer our condolences to their families. On the other hand, 20 of our soldiers were martyred as a result of the crash of a C-130 military cargo plane that took off from Azerbaijan to come to our country. I pray to God for mercy on our heroic Mehmetçiks. May our nation’s head be healthy.”
“I wish Erhürman success in his duty”
Expressing his feelings and thoughts about the elections in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Vedat Doğusel said, “The Presidential elections were also held in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is of great importance for Turkey, in the past weeks. I present my wishes for success to Tufan Erhürman, who assumed the Presidency with the favor of the Cypriot people, and I believe that our strong unity with Cyprus will continue to increase.”
“An export record was broken in Kocaeli ports”
Chairman Doğusel, stating that Kocaeli broke an export record last month, said the following: “Kocaeli is one of Turkey’s exemplary provinces in terms of production and port activities. Our city, which develops our country and provides employment, reached a significant export figure last month. While exports worth 4 billion 717 million 735 thousand dollars were made from Kocaeli ports in October, not only was this year’s record broken, but also a one and a half times increase in exports was experienced compared to the first ten months of last year. Witnessing the proportional gap between exports and imports decrease makes us all happy, and we are confident that Kocaeli will continue production and exports strongly.”
“The most exports in the first ten months were from Derince”
Providing information about Kocaeli port statistics, Doğusel said: “According to data from the Eastern Marmara Customs and Foreign Trade Regional Directorate, our exports in the first ten months of this year were 36 billion 963 million dollars, while our imports reached 66 billion 606 million dollars.
In the first ten months, our customs gate with the highest exports was Derince with 17 billion 184 million dollars, followed by İzmit with 9 billion 388 million dollars in exports. In our imports, our Dilovası and Derince customs gates were at the top. While imports at the Derince Customs Directorate amounted to 29 billion 214 million dollars, imports at the Dilovası Customs Directorate amounted to 19 billion 708 million dollars. The tax collected by the Eastern Marmara Customs and Foreign Trade Directorate in the first ten months was 488 billion 989 million liras. In October 2025, compared to the previous month, exports increased by 15%, while imports decreased by 1%.
“7,066 ships called at Kocaeli”
Sharing data on Kocaeli’s ship and handling statistics, President Doğusel said that in the first ten months of 2025, a total of 7,666 ships called at Kocaeli, consisting of 2,186 Turkish-flagged ships and 5,480 foreign-flagged ships. 14.4% of the ships calling at Turkey belong to our province of Kocaeli. While 26 million 302 tons were handled in loading, 43 million 498 tons of cargo were handled in unloading. In total, 69 million 800 thousand tons were handled, accounting for 16.85% of Turkey’s total. In container handling, our province ranks 2nd in Turkey with a total of 2,093,133 TEU.”
The council meeting ended after presentations on ‘Underwater Cultural Assets in Our Region’ by Onur Kamiloğlu, Deputy Director of the Kocaeli Regional Board for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, ‘The Founding Purpose of the Accredited Inspection Companies Association’ by GÖŞİDER Chairman of the Board Bahadır Bektaş Arığ, a general introduction about the association by SAR Search and Rescue and Emergency Aid Association Member Emre İlter, and information on ‘Nutrition with Healthy Seafood’ by Murat Coşkun, Head of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Branch of Kocaeli Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, within the scope of November 21 World Fisheries Day, followed by members conveying their sectoral views and suggestions.
7DENİZ
