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 39 companies and over 5000 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 continued to move ahead in 2007
Arkas, which plans its future with long term strategies, achieved its goals for growth in 2007 while at the same time continuing its investments in vessels and the Anatolian Project.

For the past five years, Turkey has maintained consistent growth through its economic policies and the country continued this growth trend in 2007, although it did not meet expectations. It is estimated that economic growth as of the end of the year will fall short of the goal of 5 percent. However, the fact that this percentage is below expectations does not overshadow the fact that growth has continued without interruption for 23 quarters. Although inflation figures did not meet the set goals and the Consumer Price Index finished out the year at 8.4 percent inflation, which was significantly higher than the goal of 4 percent, the country did manage to limit the increase to single digits. Turkey managed to achieve exports that were higher than its goal of 100 billion dollars. Turkey's exports increased 23.49 percent, reaching 105.925 billion dollars, and the goal for 2008 was set at 125 billion dollars.

Arkas grew 20 percent in 2007
As these developments were occurring in the economy, Arkas kept moving forward in 2007 by continuing to invest in accordance with long term strategies. Arkas displayed strong performance throughout the year in every field in which it operates. After exceeding goals for growth in 2005 and 2006 by five percent, Arkas finished out 2007 with 20 percent growth. The primary factors in Arkas' growth performance in 2007 were the trust that customers have in Arkas as well as the company's extensive investments in its Merchant Marine Fleet and the Arkas Anatolia Project.

An expanding fleet
Arkas' container vessel fleet, which consisted of 17 vessels at the end of 2006, was increased to 23 vessels at the end of 2007 with six vessels, four of which were newly constructed, thus increasing transport capacity to 25,811 TEU . Four new vessels will be added to the Arkas fleet by the end of 2009.

EMES initiatives
One of the most significant initiatives in 2007 was the purchase of 1,000 temperature-controlled (reefer) containers by EMES in order to provide service to exporters who are experiencing difficulties shipping fresh fruit and vegetables to the Russian market. Orders were placed for 500 additional reefers to be delivered in 2008. In 2007, Arkas began to transport bulk loads in addition to its sea container shipping. Emes Bulk Shipping and Transport, founded last November, operates two 10,000 dwt vessels that transport products like ore, steel raw materials and products, pipe, cement and grain, which are a significant part of Turkey's exports.

Arkas' Anatolia Project moves forward with confidence
In 2007, Arkas continued developing the Arkas Anatolia Project, which was started in 2003 with the goal of making use of sea and rail transportation to reduce shipping costs and provide increased opportunities for industries in Anatolia. 2007 saw the completion of work related to procuring the necessary real estate in cities where plans are in place to offer services as part of the project. Construction work is in progress to design and build warehouses, distribution centers and similar buildings on these properties. A 6,500 square meter bonded and non-bonded warehouse has been constructed and put into operation in Kayseri, one of the provinces in Anatolia which is one of the leading provinces in Anatolia in terms of commerce.

New offices opened in foreign countries
As Arkas continued its initiatives in Anatolia, it also strengthened its overseas presence. In 2007, Arkas added new companies outside of Turkey. Now that new offices have opened in Novorossiysk, Russia and Alexandria, Egypt, the number of countries where Arkas is represented has increased to 9 and the number of overseas service points increased to 18. Arkas also has offices in Greece, Algeria, Spain, Romania, Georgia, Ukraine and Bulgaria.

Maritime transportation
In 2007, Arkas shipped a total of 1,895,858 TEU, increasing volume by 28 percent over the previous year. Furthermore, agency services were provided to 3,343 vessels at Marport and Haydarpaşa in Istanbul as well as at ports in Izmir, Gemlik, Mersin and Antalya.

Overland transportation
In 2007, Schenker Arkas completed 183,287 tons of overland shipments with 13,614 truckloads primarily between Turkey and countries in Europe. This translates to a 6 percent increase in tonnage of overland shipments.

Railway transportation
Ar-Gü worked to meet the increasing demands for transporting import and export shipments from ports via rail. The company transported a total of 610,000 tons in 2007, a 103 percent increase over the previous year. 17,016 containers of freight were transported on 12,482 railcars. Schenker Arkas' shipments on European railways increased 11 percent, reaching 149,118 tons.

Air transportation
In 2007, Schenker Arkas created rapid transportation solutions to meet a 23 percent increase in demand. 51,856 shipments consisting of 21,103 tons of cargo was transported by air.

Automotive transportation
Turkey is a country of automotive industry with 18 main manufacturers and a large number of companies in the supply industry that produce over one million motorized vehicles annually.

According to 2006 data from the Automotive Industry Association (OSD), Turkey has become the sixth largest motor vehicle producer in Europe. Of the total 2007 production of 1,133,000 vehicles, the automotive industry exported approximately 80 percent (830,000 vehicles), bringing over 20 billion dollars of foreign currency into Turkey. For the past five years, the number of motor vehicles imported into Turkey has ranged from 300,000 to 400,000. In 2007, Egekont transported a total of 204,934 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles for export (an increase of 30 percent) and 88,010 vehicles for import (an increase of 10 percent). Loading and unloading operations of vehicles is carried out at Izmir, Gemlik and Derince ports, where vessels from Grimaldi Lines call at. In addition, a total of 6,489 units of construction machinery were imported and exported. This included transport of 1,962 units for export and 4,527 units for import. When compared with figures from 2006, there was a 75 percent increase in exports but a 20 percent decrease in imports.

Autoport opens in 2008
Arkas is bringing to life a very important project in 2008 in the field of port operations. Arkas is partnering with the Japanese company Mitsui & Co. to open the first specialized port that will serve many different automobile brands. Autoport was built on 16 hectares of land in Yeniköy, located in the Gölcük district of Kocaeli in the northeast Marmara region, a focal point for the automotive industry and a center for manufacturer and distributor warehousing. Equipped with two quays, 328 m and 246 m long, where two vessels can dock simultaneously, Autoport is capable of handling 400,000 vehicles per year. Construction has been completed on the terminal, which provides dependable service to manufacturers and importers with an expert staff and advanced technology 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Port services

In 2007, Marport, the pride of the Turkish maritime sector, certified its quality in the international arena, was declared “Terminal of the Year” by Lloyd's List and once again handled the most containers of any terminal in Turkey.

The largest private container terminal in Turkey, Marport continued to expand in 2007 while also accomplishing many achievements. In 2007, Marport once again handled the most containers of any terminal in Turkey. At the end of the year the terminal had handled 1,298,256 TEU of containers, a 35 percent increase over the previous year, and provided service to 1,564 container vessels.

With a total capacity of 1,500,000 TEU, Marport followed its schedule and carried out investments that will increase its operation speed. Throughout the year two more SSG's (ship to shore gantry), ten more RTG's (rubber-tired gantry) and two more MHC's (mobile crane) went into operation at Marport's terminals. Marport's investment plans will be completed with three SSG cranes that will be delivered in the first quarter of 2008.

Certified quality and success
Marport continues to pursue high quality with support from its customers. In the past year, Marport Terminals certified its quality, environmental impact, employee health and work safety at the international level. Marport passed all required inspections and received certificates for ISO 9001 (Quality Management System), OHSAS 18001 (Work Health and Work Safety System) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System). Marport was awarded “Terminal of the Year” from Lloyd's List in 2007. Lloyd's List, one of the world's oldest magazines in the sector of shipping and transport, presented this award to Marport at the Turkish Shipping Awards, which was held in Turkey for the first time in 2007.

Hosting TOC
Last year Marport accomplished a first in the field of international transportation logistics in Turkey. TOC 2007 Europe, a conference on sea transportation, terminal and port operations held for the past 30 years in major European port cities, was hosted for the first time ever in Turkey on June 19-21. This conference attracted leading industry representatives from around the world in the field of port operations and created a forum for communication where the Turkish market was highlighted and shipping in the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean was discussed.