The Turkish container line Akkon Lines starts operating in Ukraine, choosing for ship calls DP World TIS Pivdennyi (Odesa region) container terminal in the country.
“This regular weekly service will provide direct and fast connections between the container terminal at Pivdenny port, in Odesa region in Ukraine, and the key Turkish ports Ambarli and Gebze,” TIS Pivdennyi said in a statement.
The corresponding agreement was signed on August 26, 2021 by Ihor Zhihor, the CEO of DP World TIS Pivdennyi terminal, and Salim Isil, the CEO of AKKON Shipping. The first call to DP World TIS Pivdennyi is expected in the first ten days of September.
“Shorter and more flexible routes will speed up maritime logistics between DP World TIS Pivdennyi and Turkey, and make it easier for Ukrainian business to access other Turkish ports, in particular Gemlik, Mersin and Aliaga. As a result, Ukrainian cargo owners will be able to get additional convenient access to the Mediterranean and North African markets,” the report says.
Akkon Lines notes that such cooperation will give the company access to the multimodal infrastructure of Ukrainian partners, including the network of the so-called dry ports and railway terminals.
DP World TIS Pivdennyi is a container terminal located in the water area of Pivdenny seaport in Odesa region with berth depths of 15 meters and five STS cranes in one line. The terminal has its own well-developed railway infrastructure and regular block train service.
The terminal’s container throughput in 2020 amounted to almost 245,000 TEU, having increased by 12% compared to 2019.
Akkon Lines container line was founded in 2018 under the auspices of AKKON Maritime Transport and Trade A.S. and in partnership with Akarlar Shipping. It specializes in container shipping in the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins. Akkon Lines, in addition to container transportation services, offers ground transportation and logistics services for storage, customs clearance, etc.