Page 56: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 1999)

By David Tinsley, technical editor

One of the few Turkish compa- nies with a track record in chemi- cal tanker construction, Celik

Tekne Shipyard, has given new expression to its specialist skills with a project involving a 4,200- dwt vessel of IMO type II designa- tion. The chemtanker newbuild, for Adrasan A S, is due to be deliv- ered next month, giving added dimension to the capabilities of the industry in Turkey.

Since 1995, the yard's output has included two 3,500-dwt tankers arranged for IMO II chemical car- goes, and delivered into Dutch hands, followed in 1997 by a 1,500- dwt coastwise and river-going tanker designed to transport bitu- men as well as chemicals.

Through the latter contract, ful- filled for a north-west European operator, Celik Tekne acquired technical know-how in a field in which certain Dutch and Spanish yards have proved successful in recent years.

The current workload, though, demonstrates the extent to which the Turkish builder has developed its standing in the intra-regional and feeder containership market, with boxship tonnage accounting for a high proportion of the 1999 delivery program. Scheduled to be commissioned in February, a 1,140-TEU newbuild to the account of Asil Gilda will rank among the largest vessels to date from the industry located on Tuzla

Bay. Asil Gilda is part of the Pak

Holdings group, which includes the

Pinat shipping operation.

Production planning is geared to a requirement for deliveries in rapid succession during the late summer and fall of two 800-TEU containerships and an 8,200-dwt general cargo vessel. The pair of shortsea feederships is destined for

Istanbul-based Furtrans Shipping & Trade, a constituent of the M

Faruk Urkmez group, while the general purpose trader has been booked by another Istanbul compa- ny, Emsan.

Celik Tekne has invested sub- stantially in the upgrading and capacity-enhancing development of its facilities, most recently mani- fested in the provision of a slipway of 492 x 98.4 ft. (150 x 30 m) main dimensions, the largest at the yard. The latest expenditure has also entailed a new outfitting quay, with a 492 ft. (150 m) length com- patible with that of the big slip, and two 50-ton gantry cranes.

Other features of the program have included the installation of the Tribon 4 system, from ship- building software specialist

Kockums Computer Systems (KCS), a numerically-controlled (NC) oxy-fuel cutting machine, and the construction of a new, 1,000- sq.-m. office building. Some 15,000-sq.-m. of workshops and an

NC plasma cutting machine figure large in the planned next phase of development.

Modernization and expansion have enabled the company to con- tinue to demonstrate competitive- ness in both the domestic and international domains, although investments are always founded on close consideration of the order- book and real newbuild project opportunities.

Celik Tekne is part of

Galatasaray Holding, which includes Karmaksan, a company dedicated to the production of LPG steel cylinders. Galatasaray's stake in the LPG market also derives from its ownership of two distribution and storage firms,

Ocakgaz and Tekgaz.

Among the companies which have done much to raise Turkish shipbuilding's profile among the

North European shipowning com- munities, Marmara Transport has maintained an export basis to its business in recent years through close consideration of design needs and product quality expectations.

A contract with a German client has seen the construction in 1998 of an 11,000-dwt feedership offer- ing an 800-TEU container and self- sustaining cargo handling attrib- utes. The project gives rise to the

Marcon 800 design, in which an adjustable cell guide structure con- fers maximum hold flexibility to suit the requirements of specific trades and charterers. A competi- tive service speed in excess of 17 knots is promised from a Deutz 6,480-kW installation. 58 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News