Yilport welcomes 100th container vessel

Yilport Container Terminal and Port Operations Inc. was established as a subsidiary of Yildirim Holding Inc. in 2005. Construction of the pier was completed at the end of 2007 and container handling operations were inaugurated with the container vessel MSC Marylena on January 20, 2008. The port welcomed its 100th vessel, CMA CGM’s 3,500 teu Capella, on August 5, 2008.

“We are at the last stage of the first phase, and with the completion of phase three our goal is to reach an annual handling capacity of 2m teu of containers, 2m cu m of liquid cargo and 5m tons of general cargo,” said Robert Yuksel Yildirim, CEO of Yildirim Holding.

Yilport provides services to CMA CGM and MSC, and with STS gantry cranes with an 18-row outreach, is capable of handling the largest vessels currently calling in Turkey. “Two of the STS gantry cranes, constructed by the Japanese company MES, have been in operation since the beginning of 2008 and another two will be delivered in October 2008, to be in service by January 2009,” said Mr. Yildirim.