412 million tonnes through Turkish ports in nine months, steady Straits traffic, ship and yacht exports up a third: 2026 in official figures, and Tuzla's place in it.
Official statistics published up to mid-October give a clear picture of Turkish maritime in 2026: port volumes are running slightly ahead of last year's record pace, container traffic keeps growing, transits through the Straits are steady and ship and yacht exports have risen sharply. These are the key figures, with the period each one covers.
Ports: 412 million tonnes in nine months
- Turkish ports handled 412.1 million tonnes of cargo in January–September 2026, slightly more (+0.6%) than in the same period of 2025, according to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
- Container throughput reached 10.77 million TEU, up 2.7%.
- The mix is shifting: according to the Directorate General's September data, cabotage (domestic) cargo rose 17.4% and transit cargo 6.3%, while foreign-trade cargo fell by about 3%.
- February and April 2026 were the busiest February and April on record.
By harbour-master area — each covering several terminals — Aliağa (64 million tonnes) and Kocaeli (62.9 million tonnes) led in cargo volume, and Ambarlı led in containers with 2.67 million TEU, followed by Kocaeli, Mersin and Tekirdağ. For reference, 2025 as a whole was a record year with 553.3 million tonnes and 14 million TEU.
Turkish Straits: steady traffic
In the first half of 2026, 19,277 ships transited the Istanbul Strait and 20,941 the Çanakkale Strait — 40,218 in total, about 2% fewer than a year earlier. Six in ten ships (24,260) took a pilot. General cargo ships, dry bulk carriers and container ships were the most common types. In 2025 as a whole the two straits handled 84,640 transits.
Shipyards: exports up by a third
- Exports of the ship, yacht and services sector reached USD 2.0 billion in January–September 2026, 34.7% more than a year earlier, according to the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM). For comparison, the sector exported USD 2.24 billion in the whole of 2025.
- Türkiye has 85 active shipyards with an annual capacity of 4.79 million DWT; in 2025 they carried out 42.4 million DWT of repair and maintenance work.
- The ministry ranks Türkiye 7th in the world by number of ships on order and 10th by tonnage, 2nd in mega-yacht building, and 3rd in the world — and first in Europe — in ship recycling.
Tuzla
Tuzla remains the heart of the industry: 27 of the yards on the ministry's published list of active shipyards are in Tuzla, together accounting for about a third of the listed annual capacity. The Turkish Shipbuilders' Association (GİSBİR), headquartered in Tuzla, launched a shipbuilding cluster project in March 2026 with 22 shipyards and supply-industry companies, and RMK Marine announced that its Tuzla yard will concentrate on commercial and naval projects once its yacht building moves to a new yard in Yalova.
Other milestones of 2026
- The Turkish-owned fleet of ships of 1,000 GT and above reached a record 2,262 ships and 54.3 million DWT on 1 July 2026.
- UAB MAVİ VATAN, the first suction dredger built in Türkiye to a domestic design, was launched in September.
- 1 July 2026 marked the centenary of the 1926 Cabotage Law, which reserves coastal shipping to Turkish-flag vessels.
What it means for owners and operators
Steady port and Straits volumes keep demand for agency and husbandry services high, the growth in cabotage creates opportunities for Turkish-flag tonnage, and with repair activity at a high level it pays to plan drydock slots in Tuzla and Yalova early. Our team in Tuzla, at the centre of Türkiye's shipyard cluster, follows these trends every day. See our ship agency service.