14 March 2008Japanese trading firm Mitsui & Co. announced that it has acquired a 29-percent stake in Autoport Terminal Operators S.A., the operator of Turkey’s first port specializing in automobiles.
The acquisition makes Mitsui the second-largest shareholder in Autoport Terminal Operators after the Arkas Group, a major Turkish distribution firm, which holds a 51-percent stake. The port is slated to be completed next month on the outskirts of Istanbul. Autoport Terminal Operators will aim to handle some 420,000 vehicles per annum, including exports and imports, Mitsui said. Autoport Terminal Operators is headquartered in Izmit, some 100 kilometers south of Istanbul, on the Sea of Marmara. The Turkish economy has been growing robustly in recent years on a production base of products exported to the European Union. The automotive industry has become one of the nation’s major industries. In 2007, Turkey exported 829,879 finished vehicles, and imported 359,089 finished vehicles. Mitsui is expected to call on Japanese automakers that are expanding production in Turkey, such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., to make use of the new port. -- Hisane Masaki in Tokyo
