INVESTING 260 MILLION EURO IN NEW SHIPS WITHIN 5 YEARS, U.N. RO-RO IS READY FOR TURKEY'S 2023 TARGETS

Investing 260 million Euro in its fleet within 5 years despite the global crisis, U.N. Ro-Ro introduced UN Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest Ro-Ro ship with a capacity of 280 semi-trailer trucks, to its fleet. Stating the fact that their available capacity is able to meet 60 percent increase in truck transports to Europe, Sedat Gümüşoğlu, CEO of U.N. Ro-Ro, said: “Established as the primary infrastructure of exports from Turkey, our company is already prepared for Turkey’s foreign trade targets set for 2023.”

As one of the leading Ro-Ro transport operators of the world, U.N. Ro-Ro continues with its investments in line with Turkey's 2023 targets. The company introduced UN Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest Ro-Ro ship with a capacity of 280 semi-trailer trucks, to its fleet. 

Executives of U.N. Ro-Ro and KKR, investment fund, and the leading representatives of the transportation sector participated in the naming and launching ceremony of UN Istanbul organized in Hamburg Flensburger Shipyard, where the vessel was built. 

During his speech at the ceremony, Sedat Gümüşoğlu, CEO of U.N. Ro-Ro said: “Despite the crisis affecting the world since 2008, and the recession in shipping and transportation sector related to the crisis, as U.N. Ro-Ro we have prepared ourselves to the future by continuing with our investments. Our fleet investments, realized in line with the foreign trade targets of Turkey’s 2023 vision, reached a total amount of 260 million EUR since 2008.” 

Stating the fact that the growth in world economy over the last 5 years had been achieved mainly by the emerging economies, Gümüşoğlu talked about the severe crisis that hit the shipping industry. Gümüşoğlu stated that during this period while Turkey’s foreign trade increased by 40 percent, the increase in trade towards Europe was only 14 percent. Europe’s share in Turkey’s foreign trade decreased from 46 percent to 38 percent. Declaring that in 2007 truck transports to Europe had been about 244.000, Gümüşoğlu highlighted the fact that the increase in transport had been below 1 percent per annum since 2007. 

61 percent increase in vehicle transport capacity

Underlining the fact that U.N. Ro-Ro had increased the number of its routes to 5 during this period, Gümüşoğlu said: “Our fleet which consisted of 9 ships in 2007 now reached a total of 12 ships, as it also became a younger fleet. During the same period our available capacity reached 322.000 from 200.000, with an increase of 31 percent. Today we have a ship capacity of 43.5 kilometers available to meet a 60 percent increase in total truck transports to Europe.” 

Stating that they had also added Mersin to their Trieste services departing from Pendik and Ambarlı in 2009, Gümüşoğlu said: “We’ve started Ambarlı-Toulon services in 2010, and Pendik-Constanza services in 2011. While we operated 506 sailings during 2007, we increased our sailings by 24 percent to 626 through our new routes and new ships. And the number of vehicles transported reached up to 200.000 from 179.000 with an increase of 12 percent within 5 years.” 

“We built a sea highway between Turkey and Europe”

Emphasizing the fact that these figures had positioned U.N. Ro-Ro as a company establishing the primary infrastructure of export from Turkey, Gümüşoğlu continued as follows: “In 2012 U.N. Ro-Ro recovered back to its pre-crisis status in every aspect of the business. As a Ro-Ro operator providing the best quality service to the biggest logistics and international transportation companies of Turkey, with 12 Ro-Ro ships, 4 routes to Europe, our port in Pendik, 550 employees, and shareholders who believe in Turkey’s future, we’re proud to have built the biggest sea highway between Turkey and Europe since our foundation.”

UN Istanbul in figures:

Length: 208 meters

Linear meter: 4.100 meters (4,1 km)

Vehicle Capacity: 280 Semi-trailer trucks

Unladen weight: 31.500 tons 

Loading areas in 4 main decks 

Cruising speed: 21 knots

Cutting edge electronic navigational equipment

Turkish flagged and with Turkish crew