Founded over a century ago and with over 60 years of experience in international transportation, the Arkas group of companies underwent a comprehensive restructuring process, the result of which was the formation of Arkas Holding in September 2000.

Encompassing 43 companies and over 5.645 employees, Arkas Holding offers a wide range of services from international container shipping to port operations.

Arkas Holding is an organization committed to safely delivering the goods with which it has been entrusted by its customers to the indicated destination. Quality and customer satisfaction are its top priority and it has become a leader in the sector with its emphasis on state-of-the-art technology and continuous innovation.

Arkas achieved its goals in 2009
In spite of the economic crisis experienced both in the shipping sector and throughout the world, 2009 was a successful year for Arkas.The Arkas Agency Group foresaw the crisis experienced in the shipping sector and launched restructuring efforts in 2008, allowing it to complete 2009 at the same levels as it did the previous year although there were small decreases in volumes. Arkas continued to develop in 2009 with a new partnership it signed with Yang Ming in January,by adding two new vessels to its fleet of container ships, by opening new offices abroad, and securing new agency contracts.

Arkas increases the number of vessels in its commercial fleet to 26
In August and October of 2009, Arkas received delivery of the 1,604 TEU M/V Wanda A and the M/V Bernard A vessels at the Peene-Werft Shipyard in Wolgast, Germany. Arkas continues to invest in sea vessels in 2010, adding the 1,139 TEU M/V Martine A to its fleet in April. In May, Arkas expanded its fleet with the 2,500 TEU M/V Vivien A , the largest container vessel in Turkey. Arkas now has a total transport capacity of 35,331 TEU with 26 Turkish-flag vessels.

A new partnership
Arkas has partnerships with leading companies in the global shipping sector and in 2009 it added another one to this list. For 14 years, Arkas served as an agency for Yang Ming, one of the world's leading shipping companies, before Yang Ming decided to establish a joint agency with Arkas in Turkey , forming Yang Ming Anatolia . As of January 1 st 2009, the company has been serving customers with branches in Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir and Mersin. Yang Ming Anatolia has Far East services that call Istanbul, Izmir, Gemlik and Mersin.

EMES has become Arkas Line
According to the AXS-Alphaliner report, EMES is the 34 th largest container line shipping company in the world, making a total of 3,181 port calls and 574 voyages and transporting 502,760 TEU in 2009. TEU feeder shipments calling at 1,341 ports on 240 trips accounted for 269,455 TEU with the remaining 233,305 TEU consisting of line shipments to 1,830 ports on 334 trips. EMES, which launched new services in 2009 to meet the demands of importers and exporters, received an award in the Management of Overseas Routes and Vessels branch of the Ship Owners Category of the 2009 Golden Anchor Shipping Achievement Awards organized by Dünya Gazetesi Perşembe Rotası and the Maritime News Agency. As of January 1 st 2010, EMES has changed its name to Arkas Container Transport S.A. and will continue to conduct regular line transportation between Mediterranean and Black Sea ports under the brand name “Arkas Line”. The feedering arm of the company, EMES Feedering S.A.M., continues to provide its services under the same name.

Marport hosts mega vessels in 2009
Marport is Turkey's largest private container terminal and in 2009 it served 1,432 vessels handling 1,263,628 TEU . With a draft of 14.5 meters, Marport is the only deep water container terminal in Turkey where the largest Post-Panamax vessels can dock at and 2009 was the year in which giant containers vessels berthed at Marport. The 9,200 TEU MSC Sindy, the 9,178 TEU MSC Bruxelles, and the 9,113 TEU MSC Madeleine, the largest containers vessels to visit Turkey, docked at Marport in June, July and September respectively.



The number of overseas offices increased and new agency services were obtained
Arkas continues to expand abroad by opening new offices. Arkas expanded its extensive Mediterranean and Black Seas with new offices in the cities of Alicante, Tenerife, Las Palmas and Casablanca. in 2009 and in Kiev in 2010. Arkas provides employment for 5,645 people, 645 of which are located abroad, through 39 offices in 13 countries including Turkey. In 2009, the Romanian office, Arkas Dacia, began acting as agents for Grimaldi Lines while Hamburg Sued nominated Global Container Agency in Morocco.