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29
Foto
Photo
Top Left
Üst Sol
26.12.2009 at
Tuzla/Istanbul
Technical Uni-
versity Maritime
Faculty
Tuzla’da İTÜ Den-
izcilik Fakültesi
Balık Gününde.
Top Right
Üst Sağ
17 Eylül 2011
Launching Sjeberg
at Cemre Shipyard
Cemre Tersane-
sinde Sjeberg adlı
gemi indiriliyor..
Bottom Left
Alt Sol
28.05.2004 At
the opening of
IMPA Congress in
Istanbul,
IMPA Kongresinin
açılışında/İstanbul
Bottom Right
Alt Sağ
10.12.2011
At the opening
ceremony of Binali
Yıldırım Student’s
Dormitory-
Binali Yıldırım
Yurdu’nun
açılışında.
SeaNews: As you are at the
helm of Turkish Maritime Ad-
ministration since 3rd of No-
vember 2002, after more than
11 years at the Administration
of Maritime, could you give us
a briefing and an assessment of
the past as well? What are the
main differences of the current
outlook compared to the out-
look when you took office?
Binali Yıldırım:
I think the best assess-
ment on this matter could be carried out
by just looking at the figures of Turkish
shipbuilding sector. In the years of 2002
and 2003 the total number of shipyards
in Turkey was 37, and today this number
is increased to 71, and likewise, installed
capacity of Turkish shipyards was 550
thousand DWT/ year then and now it is
increased to 3.60 million DWT / year.
When we started to work, very few of
our staff at the Maritime Administration
was of maritime origin. First of
all, we initiated the work by increas-
ing the number of staff with maritime/
sea origin/background. 6.7% Maritime
Administration staff were with maritime
education background in 2002 and we
increased this ratio up to 30%. Of
course, we took important steps in giv-
ing the jobs to eligible people. It is one
of the our main target to strengthen the
hand of our mariners in international
competitive environment which exists
in maritime sector by it’s nature and to
open their way. In this context, Turkish-
flagged ships which were blacklisted for
years, has been upgraded to grey and then
finally to white list which eventually has
been increasing their international repu-
tation. With the result of intensive PSC
control efforts, our flag remained in the
white list since then.
Also, in year 2010, Shore Facilities
National Master Plan has been prepared
in order to build up the port facilities and
other shore facilities in parallel with our
needs and in convenient locations.
Most of the applications has been
transferred to electronic environment. All
arrival and departure operations of ves-
sels, ship and port fees charged and the
collection of the fees and charges has
been ported to a fully electronic environ-
ment.
As a review, I would like to share some
of the data with you:
Vessels operating in Cabotage services
(Domestic voyages) began to be sup-
ported in 2004 by the Government with
the exclusion of Special Consumption
Tax on the use of fuel, and by the end of
2012 with an amount of approximately
TL 3.1 billion of support was provided.
Beginning of the implementation of
Special Consumption Tax exclusion on
fuel in 2004, a total of 2.7 million tons
of fuel had been delivered by the end
of 2012. Price stability in the transpor-
tation of passenger and vehicles has
been accomplished by means Special
Consumption Tax exclusion and in the
end of the day, all these efforts were to
the benefit of our citizens.
Number of passengers transported in
domestic voyages in 2002 was approxi-
mately 99 million, and in 2012, there
is a vast increase of %61 which means
a number exceeding 159 million pas-
sengers.
And again, in 2002, only 5.4 mil-
Exclusively for our first issue; we
interviewed with the person who is at
the helm of Turkish Maritime; Mr. Binali
Yıldırım; Minister of Transport, Maritime
and Communication.
Exclusive Interview