Going global

If Turkish sweetheart Yilport Holdings’ goal to create the largest port in the Marmara Sea seems ambitious, its plans for port operations beyond its national boundaries are even more aspirational.

It has set its sights on becoming a top ten global port operator and an existing annual capacity of 5.5m teu puts that ranking in reach: Drewry pegged Eurogate at tenth position in its latest 2012 ranking at 6.5m teu. Yilport’s target capacity of 7.5m teu by 2017 would put them in joint position with Evergreen in the present rankings, no mean feat for a humble Turkish operator from a family-run company.

Yilport morphed into Yilport Holdings last year in preparation for an international leap in terminal operations. As part of the move, the company centralised its back office, standardised its technologies and centralised its planning in advance of two planned terminal purchases outside of Turkey expected this year.

Projects in Africa and South America are being targeted, investments that will be complemented by foreign investment in Yilport Holdings which is also on the cards for 2014.

“We are looking international – it’s time for us to become the ‘Turkish global port operator’,” Sean Pierce, chief executive of Yilport Holding tells Port Strategy. “This year is the year that we are going out to add two international ports to the portfolio.

“We’re spending a tremendous amount of time focused on and visiting Africa and South America to find those projects. Most of those projects are multi-purpose facilities to complement the other interests of Yildirim Holdings.”

Beyond the gate

As part of the larger Yildirim group – with diverse interests connecting the whole supply chain – the operator has a keen focus on the hinterland when considering new investments, not just the port.

“We look at what other activities we can do and take a very long term view of the projects. Sometimes investment in the port is just the start of it.

“As a company as a whole we have a very entrepreneurial outlook: if there is trade or some other activities we can do to create cargo flows into the port then that’s what we’re after.”

The second strand to Yilport’s ‘top ten’ aspirations is the invitation of outside investment into the business.

“We’ve had strategy sessions on who might take a percentage of Yilport Holdings. It could be a strategic partner, it could be an infrastructure fund, but the idea is that we will have a percentage share for somebody from the outside.

“We have an aggressive plan which is to develop into a top ten global port operator. In order to do that we have to spread out and it’s a good thing in our opinion to take an outside investor. It helps the company to mature and it can help bring us in to new markets.

“For us, to be a top ten terminal operator is important but you want to be a profitable top ten operator. Growing the international side will help us at this point because it gives us access to new markets and it also gives us access to new people, so it will allow us to grow our team.” Yilport is also considering the purchase of portfolios of existing operators.

Domestic bliss

But while its international plans are a key focus for 2014, its domestic operations are not being left behind.

Yilport purchased Gemport in 2012 which, combined with the recently developed container terminal in Gemlik, will bring the group’s domestic container capacity to 1m teu by the end of the year. When the two facilities are completely integrated, the hub will offer 1km of berth with a projected capacity in excess of 2m teu.

There are also keen plans for the auto facilities where capacity has increased by over 25% for 2014 with similar growth expected for 2015. For bulk, the onsite fertiliser factory is scheduled to go through a major expansion, putting Gemport in a good position to capitalise on increased bulk handling.

The positioning of the fertiliser factory did initially present a problem when Gemport was brought into the portfolio as it sits in the middle of the two terminals that the group planned to combine. “Because of that and because of the restricted space we couldn’t just continue our RTG runs all across to link the two terminals together,” explains Mr Pierce. “Instead we have gone to a very large block for RMGs. These dual-cantilever RMGs will allow us to have the traffic patterns we need and also will allow us to do some automated housekeeping in those blocks. We call this the key that locks the two terminals together.

“This will also allow us to do dual cycling when we get below decks on ships. We’re a grounded terminal but our expectations are that we’ll dual cycle at least 30%, maybe even 40% of the moves and that immediately cuts down on fuel because there is less wastage, less movement of the trucks and there’s less traffic in the yard, so our productivity should improve.”

Dual cycling has been in place at Yilport’s Gebze port for the past year where 20%-30% of moves are dual-cycled. Dual cycling will be in place at Gemport by the end of this year. This, combined with four new QCs, will push productivity up to over 30 moves per hour per crane at Gemport; the eventual target is 35 moves per hour per crane when all the works are completed.

There is also a focus on value add for its domestic customers. “Our focus is also on providing additional services to our customers for the ports that we already have. This includes the deployment of an intra-Marmara shuttle service, where shipping lines calling at our facilities will receive a premium discount service for the repositioning of containers.

“We are also constructing an environmentally friendly and efficient automated mineral loading system. In addition to that we just opened up a marble storage yard, we started a trucking company and we are looking to further develop the intermodal rail. Those are all value-adds that we are putting in place and we’re also spending more time in discussions with customers this year; sometimes they need a partner, not just a port.”