SOCAR Turkey plans to open huge Aegean container port in September

The Turkish branch of Azeri energy giant SOCAR will open the Petlim Container Port in the Aegean Sea this September to become an alternative to Greece's Piraeus Port for container shipments, according to Kenan Yavuz, the head of SOCAR Turkey and a board member of Petkim Petrochemical Holding.

"The Petlim Container Port will be commissioned in September this year. Investments attracted for the construction of the port stand at $400 million ? The most important advantage of the port is that it will become a great alternative to the Piraeus Port on the Aegean Sea and we'll be accepting the biggest container ships to our port," Yavuz said in his speech at the 22nd International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition in Baku Expo Center on June 2, the company said in a written statement.

The company invited Azerbaijan's President ?lham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an to the opening ceremony, Yavuz added. 

The Petlim Container Port will be operated by Dutch company APM Terminals, one of the world's leading companies in the field, for the next 28 years, he also said. 

Last year Petlim Port, owned by Petkim Petrochemical Holding in the Alia?a district of the Aegean province of ?zmir, sold some 30 percent of its shares to Goldman Sachs for $300 million. Currently, Petkim holds a 70 percent share of Petlim, while Goldman Sachs holds the remaining 30 percent. Petkim and Petlim are controlled by SOCAR Turkey. 

The Petlim Container Port, which for the first time in Turkey will enable the berthing of ships with 11,000 TEUs, will possess a starting capacity of 1.5 million TEUs. A logistic field with a total of 48 hectares will be created, with 42 hectares in the port field for container storage and 6 hectares in the rear...