Turkey’s maritime trade sector closed 2025 with record figures, according to Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.
In a written statement evaluating the Maritime General Directorate’s statistics for December 2025, Uraloğlu said the amount of cargo handled at Turkish ports in December increased by 7.6% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 49.8 million tons — the highest monthly volume ever recorded.
Container traffic also rose by 5.9% year-on-year to 1.17 million TEU in December. “December 2025 became the month with the highest cargo handling volume of all time. We completed 2025 with a record in maritime trade,” Uraloğlu said.
The minister noted that outbound cargo from Turkish ports to foreign ports amounted to 11.6 million tons in December, while inbound cargo from abroad reached 25.9 million tons. Total international maritime cargo transport increased by 5.5% year-on-year to 37.5 million tons.
Transit cargo transported by sea through Turkish ports rose by 8.4% to 6 million tons, while cabotage (domestic maritime transport) increased significantly by 21.5% year-on-year to 6.36 million tons.
Among regional port authorities, Aliağa ranked first in cargo handling with 8.18 million tons, followed by Kocaeli with 7.35 million tons and Iskenderun with 6.02 million tons.
Uraloğlu also highlighted that LNG showed the largest monthly increase among cargo types, rising by nearly 1.2 million tons compared to the previous month, reaching 2.55 million tons in total handling.
In terms of exports by sea, the most transported cargo type was Portland cement with 808,786 tons, followed by clinker and fuel oil. Italy was the top destination for Turkish maritime exports, followed by the United States and Egypt. On the import side, the largest volume of cargo came from Russia.
Source: AA
