Ahmet Tamtekin (Executive Board Member at Arkas Holding and Director of Logistics Services ), Lucien Arkas (Arkas Holding Chairman) and Can Atalay (General Manager of EMES)

The Lloyd’s List Turkish Shipping Awards 2007 were handed out to winners at a ceremony held at the Çırağan Kempinski Hotel in Istanbul on May 15th, 2008. Metin Kalkavan, President of the Turkish Chamber of Shipping, representatives from Undersecretariat of Maritime and many representatives from the shipping industry were present as well as Lucien Arkas, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Arkas Holding.

Arkas Anatolia and EMES receive awards
Lloyd’s List, one of the world’s oldest and most respected newspapers in the sector of shipping and transport, presented awards in 11 categories to the most successful companies in Turkey, which included two Arkas companies. The jury, which consisted of Suay Umut, Cengiz Kaptanoğlu, Prof. Dr. Fehmi Ülgener, Prof. Dr. Güldem Cerit, Dr. Jülide Ergin, Fuat Çakmak, Gökhan Esin, Tanju Kalaycıoğlu, Michael Drayton and Chris Mayer, handed out awards to EMES Shipping and Arkas Anadolu Logistics as the Most Successful Company in their fields. Arkas Anadolu Logistics was declared “The Shipping and Logistics Company of the Year, while EMES was pronounced “The Liner Shipping Company of the Year”. At the ceremony Ahmet Tamtekin, Executive Board Member at Arkas Holding and Director of Logistics Services, received the award on behalf of Arkas Anadolu Logistics, while General Manager Can Atalay received the award on behalf of EMES.

Bringing Anatolian industry to the seas With 64 years of experience in the shipping industry, Arkas has made significant advances in the field of logistics in recent years. Arkas Anatolia Project was started in 2003 with the goal of reducing transportation costs for industries in Anatolia by connecting inland cities to ports via rail and land transport, as well as providing container storage and logistics services. These services are rendered through Arkas companies (Arkas Transportation, Ar-Gü Rail Transport and Warehousing and Ardep Customs and Warehousing), while marketing operations are carried out under the umbrella of Arkas Anadolu Logistics, thus giving customers access to consolidated solutions from a central location. Arkas Anatolia Logistics serves customers from its offices in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Gaziantep, Eskişehir, Konya and Kayseri and currently connects industries in Bozüyük, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Elazığ and Erzurum to the ports of Istanbul, Izmir and Mersin. The company has made the largest investment in combined transportation in Anatolia and has at its disposal 471 rail cars, 750 containers suitable for transport via rail, 416 tractors and many vehicles and equipment for loading and unloading goods. Last year Arkas Anadolu Logistics finalized the purchase of 100 hectares of land and is planning to open intermodal terminals that will make it possible to combine sea, truck and rail shipments from many locations in Anatolia.

Company managers in the Arkas Anatolia Project (left to right): Nabi Erberk (Ardep General Manager), Mehmet Bezal (Arkas Transportation General Manager), Ercan Güleç (Ar-Gü General Manager), Cenk Ergen (Arkas Anadolu Logistics General Manager), Diane Arcas (Executive Board Member), Ahmet Tamtekin (Executive Board Member and Director of Logistics Services), Gürkan Barutoğlu (Regional Coordinator-Southern Turkey), Handan Armağan (Arfor General Manager), Mehmet Tiryakioğlu (Regional Director-Northern Turkey) and Mustafa Çiper (Strategic Projects Coordinator-Logistics Services)

Fourth in the Mediterranean Founded by Arkas in 1996 to carry out feeder shipments, EMES has made significant achievements in the field of liner shipping. Today EMES does not just ship containers between Turkish ports and ports in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, there are services that call only between foreign ports as well EMES is increasing the size of its fleet of container vessels every year and operates 25 vessels, most of which fly the Turkish flag. EMES’ shipping statistics are also increasing at a similar rate with annual growth of 43 percent over the past five years.

Cemalettin Şevli (Istanbul & Turkish Straits and Marmara Sea, Regional General Manager of Undersecretariat of Maritime Affairs and Can Atalay (EMES General Director)