Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, in his statement at the National Maritime Safety Presidency, announced that as a result of the investigation into the global outage on devices using the Windows operating system, it was determined that the disruption was not caused by a cyber attack. Minister Uraloğlu said, “Solution suggestions have been shared with all our SOMEs via the SİP platform. “We continue to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with our domestic and national products to protect the cyber borders of our country.” he said. In his speech here, Uraloğlu also made statements about maritime safety and stated that, "With the Main Search and Rescue Center, they provide the necessary intervention and emergency coordination of maritime elements in case Turkish ships or seafarers in emergency in the world's seas experience problems." Emphasizing the importance of Turkey's only simulator center, which is one of the world's leading national maritime safety directorates, in effective response to possible marine pollution and maritime accidents, Minister Uraloğlu said that they serve the world maritime with the Main Search and Rescue Coordination Center, not only within the Turkish Search and Rescue Region but also in every corner of the world.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu made inspections at the National Maritime Safety Presidency, which acts as a brain in order to be prepared for and intervene in marine pollution incidents that may occur in Turkey's territorial waters and maritime jurisdictions. Minister Uraloğlu, who received a briefing about the work here, said, “At the beginning of this month, we celebrated the 98th anniversary of our Maritime and Cabotage Day with enthusiasm, and on July 2, we celebrated the 3rd Anniversary. By holding the "Turkey Maritime Summit", we showed once again how much we are a country that attaches importance to its seas and maritime. For us, our seas are our 'Blue Homeland'. Whatever an inch of our land means, a grain of sand or a handful of water from our seas has the same meaning and importance for us. Our country; "As the country that controls the Istanbul and Dardanelles Straits, which are among the most important straits in the world, it is in a key position in terms of maritime transportation and international trade activities of the countries in the Mediterranean Basin and the Black Sea Basin."
"Our country; “It ranks 12th in the world with its merchant fleet reaching 48.9 million deadweight tons with more than 2 thousand ships larger than 1000 gross tons.”
Stating that they aim to make the best use of this rich potential of Turkey, which is a natural peninsula with sea borders three times as long as its land borders with a coastline length of approximately 8 thousand 333 kilometers, and to raise it to higher ranks in world maritime, Uraloğlu said, "We are meeting with you at our National Maritime Safety Presidency. This is one of the most important milestones we have achieved in reaching our goal. Thank God, today we are talking about a Turkey that is among the Leading Countries in Maritime. With the inspections and practices we implemented as the Ministry, we were included in the white list at Paris Mou in 2008 and we have been on the white list since then. The Turkish Flag is among the most prestigious flags in the world. Our country; "It ranks 12th in the world with its maritime merchant fleet reaching 48.9 million deadweight tons, with more than 2 thousand ships larger than 1000 gross tons." he said.
Turkey's Container Ports Are Among the Top 100 Ports in the World
Turkey's; Underlining that the container ports in Tekirdağ, Ambarlı, Kocaeli and Mersin are among the top 100 ports in the world, Minister Uraloğlu emphasized that the amount of cargo handled in 217 ports in 2023 was 521 million tons and the amount of containers handled was 12 million 566 thousand TEU. Uraloğlu said, “We think that we will reach record growth figures in 2024 and leave these amounts behind in 2023. Because in the first half of this year, the amount of cargo handled in ports increased by 3.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 269 million 182 thousand 694 tons, and the amount of containers handled increased by 11.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 6 million 781 thousand 483 teu. rose. We say that new records are in sight.” he said.
“We Provide Emergency Coordination with Our Main Search and Rescue Center”
Emphasizing that every step taken for the safety of the seas and protection of the environment is important in leaving a safer world to future generations, Uraloğlu said that for this purpose, they monitor the seas 24/7 to increase the safety of navigation, life, property and environment with the systems they established as the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. . Uraloğlu said, “We listen to our seas with the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite-assisted search and rescue system and advanced communication systems. We see it with our Automatic Identification Systems. We manage it with our Vessel Traffic Services Centers. With our Main Search and Rescue Center, we provide the necessary intervention and emergency assistance to all maritime elements in our search and rescue area in case our ships or crew in emergency situations in the world's seas experience problems.
