New Member Interview – Mersin International Port

Mersin International Port Management INC. (MIP) is the largest multi-purpose port in Turkey and is an important hub that connects the five continents with Türkiye’s industrialized cities as well as its neighbouring countries in the Middle East and the Black Sea region. The Mersin municipality initially founded the port in the late 1880s following the launch of the Adana-Mersin railway to respond to the increased number of ships arriving and departing from the piers. Since then, it has grown into a highly imported port for the country and the region. Interview with Ajay Kumar Singh - General Manager (CEO) Could you briefly introduce your port to the members of our international network? Mersin International Port Management Inc. (MIP) is Türkiye’s largest multi-purpose port. We handle containers, bulk and general cargo as well as project, liquid and roro cargo. We also have a passenger terminal. In addition, we offer land side services such as warehousing, cargo inspection, cold storage and a Container Freight Station (CFS) where cargo can be consolidated and deconsolidated. Finally, we provide marine services such as pilotage, mooring and tugboat towing in the region. In 2007, MIP was founded as a joint venture between the terminal operator PSA International and the Turkish infrastructure conglomerate Akfen. They took over the concession of Mersin Port from the Republic of Türkiye State Railways (TCDD) for a period of a minimum of 36 years. In 2017, IFM Investors joined as our third shareholder. We are one of the main container ports in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and have excellent connections to the five continents. A significant part of Türkiye's import and export volume travels through MIP because of our wide hinterland and extensive transportation network with terrific road and rail connections to Türkiye's industrialized cities such as Ankara, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Kahramanmaraş and Konya as well as neighbouring countries such as Syria, Iraq and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In 2003, MIP handled two million Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit containers (TEUs) and eight Million tons of cargo. On average, we handle a volume of 30 million tons of cargo per year. Moreover we aims to add value to the region with our CSR projects while maintaining our position as a leading port with approximately three thousand employees. What can you bring to the AIVP network? MIP sees this network as an opportunity to exchange ideas and cooperate in different fields to improve our port and the City of Mersin, while at the same time sharing our expertise…