They have launched 724 luxury yachts in 24 years, taking orders from members of the royal family and world-renowned personalities

Antalya Free Zone launched 30 luxury yachts in the first 5 months of 2024, and a total of 724 luxury yachts since 2000. With the opening of a new allocated area, the Free Zone, where the employment number is approaching 10, plans to surpass a trade volume of 1.2 billion dollars in 2024.

Playing a significant role in the development of the yacht industry in Turkey, Antalya Free Zone completed the production and delivery of 30 yachts in the first 5 months of 2024. From the year 2000 when the yacht sector started to develop until the end of May 2024, the number of yachts produced in the region reached 724. In Antalya Free Zone, where 87 companies operate in various fields such as agriculture, electronics, medical, and textile, including 27 with foreign capital, 50 companies are engaged in yacht production. Companies that receive orders from famous figures including business people from different countries, athletes, and members of royalty export luxury yachts ranging from 10 meters to 90 meters to many countries.

Highest trade volume reached in the month of May

Zeki Gürses, the General Manager of Antalya Free Zone Founder and Operator Inc., stated that the free zone has been experiencing the busiest days in recent years. Emphasizing that they have reached the highest trade volume in the May months so far, Gürses continued as follows:
“The yacht sector is very lively in terms of the season, besides that, we have medical, electrical, electronic, and textile sectors in our region. Antalya Free Zone also has its own port, from which exports can be made, mainly to Middle Eastern countries. In the first five months, the trade volume of Antalya Free Zone increased by 56% compared to the same period last year. We closed the month of May with the highest figure so far, $137 million. When we look at our data for the first five months, there is also a 19% increase compared to the same period last year, we closed the first 5 months with $500 million, and we are planning to end the year with a trade volume of around 1.2 billion dollars.”

Export coverage rate exceeds 154%

Zeki Gürses, emphasizing that Antalya Free Zone is an export-oriented region, stated that the export coverage rate in the first five months was 154%. Gürses said, “The manufacturing industry here is highly advanced, the yacht sector, medical, electrical, and electronic sectors operate entirely on production basis and sell all of their products abroad. Our activities continue to contribute significantly to the country’s foreign currency earnings. By loading 283 thousand tons from our port in the first five months, sales were made, especially to Middle Eastern countries. Manufacturing in our region is very high, the industrial group constitutes 94% of the trade volume, and the remaining 6% consists of the mineral group.”

The most capacity yacht maintenance and repair center in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Pointing out the increase in employment in Antalya Free Zone, Zeki Gürses stated that the number of employees in the region has reached 7,860. Gürses reported that the number of employees reaches 20 thousand with the inclusion of summer months, and the employment rate has increased by 13% compared to the previous year. Gürses said, “After the extension of our new operating period by the Ministry of Trade in 2017, we focused on investment activities in our region. Due to the development of the yacht sector in our region, we made a significant investment in our region with quays as a yacht maintenance and repair area, and the investment started in June 2021. Thus, we have become the most capacity yacht maintenance and repair center in the Eastern Mediterranean Region as Antalya Free Zone. After this date, companies in the yacht sector in our region started to receive orders for larger sized yachts. Now, we are in a position to serve yachts up to 90 meters and 2,000 tons in our region. We have also installed the most modern shiftlift system accepted worldwide. Additionally, we have a 560-ton capacity travel lift to support this. This way, we can easily meet the needs of the yacht sectors in our region.”

Free Zone produced 30 luxury yachts in the first 5 months

Zeki Gürses, the General Manager of Antalya Free Zone Founder and Operator Inc., stated that they allocated an area for companies for yacht maintenance and repair in 25 thousand square meters of open space and emphasized that there has been significant demand for the yacht sector, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, and interest in yachts has increased. Zeki Gürses reported that orders for production and maintenance repair are continuing to increase. Gürses said, “Yachts are sold all over the world, companies in our region produce yachts based on orders, and yachts are manufactured and sold to countries such as the USA, Italy, Angola, Kenya, and the UK. The number of yachts completed and delivered to their owners in the first 5 months was 30. All of our quays are currently full. As the sizes of yachts increase, we started to experience a shortage of places to dock the yachts. This is a positive development. The number of yachts we have produced so far has reached 724, and the total sales value to date has been 1 billion 742 million dollars. The total length has reached 13,222 meters. The average sizes of yachts we produce each year have started to increase, providing a significant added value. This also supports many sub-sectors, and their needs are met from Antalya.”

Antalya facilitated Turkey’s prominence in the yacht sector

Highlighting that Turkey is ranked third among the top 3 countries in the yacht industry, Zeki Gürses emphasized the significant contribution of Antalya Free Zone in this regard, saying:
“When we look at the world rankings, if we look at the top 3 countries prominent in the yacht industry; Italy is in the first place, the Netherlands is in the second place, and Turkey is in the third place. The main reason why Turkey has risen to the third place is Antalya Free Zone because here, the sizes of the completed and ongoing boats have brought Turkey to the third place. As we rapidly increase the number of yachts we produce, as yachts are exhibited at fairs, sailed on seas, their recognition increases, and more demand is directed towards our region. Orders are coming from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, the USA, Italy, Switzerland, and African countries. We conduct trade with EU countries at a rate of 52%.”

Gürses explained that high-quality productions will continue to be made in the region and concluded his speech as follows:
“There will be very large-scale investments that will come into operation from August-September of this year. One of our foreign-funded companies started construction to produce drones, and it may come into operation by 2025. Another one of our companies will start production of the latest automation elevators, an investment that may reach mid-2025. The constructions are currently ongoing, and when these are put into operation in our region, they will provide a significant added value.”