Dear Members,
The leading sectors in Iskenderun are; Iron and steel, filter and logistics sectors. Our province has been successfully mentioned in the iron and steel and filter industry sectors, which are expressed as heavy industry, throughout Turkey. Railway, sea and road transportation is carried out intensively in our region, and there are many harbors and piers which are loading and unloading in our gulf. This situation shows, the power of the logistics industry in our region.
If details about the sectors are to be addressed, the iron and steel sector in the locomotive position of the industrialist, which creates added value and provides employment; Has developed quite well in our region. According to the statistics obtained from Turkish Steel Manufacturers Association; Iskenderun Gulf Region constitutes 31% of the crude steel production capacity of our country. Iron and steel products which are produced in Iskenderun; Steel pipe, billet iron, coil iron, construction iron, flat product, coil sheet, profile and sandwich panel. These products, that are produced in our region; The Middle East is exported to many countries in North Africa and Europe. One of the important sectors in our region is the filtering sector. The first filter factory in our country was established in Iskenderun in 1966. Approximately 55-60% of the filters manufactured in our country are produced by Iskenderun companies and sold to domestic and foreign markets. When the data of recent years are evaluated, it has been observed that our filter manufacturing firms export about 40 million dollars annually. The filter types that we produced in our region; Air filtration, oil filtration, water filtration, fuel filtration and cab filtration. These filters are exported to all over the world.
Our region owes its success to excellence in logistical costs. The formation of a gulf town in our region and its proximity to the Middle East also brings some advantages in terms of transportation. Transportation companies in our region; Taking advantage of these advantages, has created a road transportation fleet with a wide transportation network. In addition, after the privatization of our port, maritime transport has been improving day by day. Iskenderun Port, which is a natural harbor facility, is one of the important ports of Turkey. The hinterland of Iskenderun Port, which has a strategically important position in the southern region of the Mediterranean, is quite extensive. In addition, there is a railway network and foreign trade only a few kilometers away. In addition to the investments that İskenderun Port makes every day, the Hassa Tunnel project will become a logistics base without any doubt, and the competitiveness of the companies in the region will increase greatly in the domestic and foreign market.
The aquaculture sector also developed in Iskenderun, as a Gulf city. Especially in our region; Lagos, shrimp, tongue, spinach, rockfish, silverfish and many different species of fish are hunting. Representatives of aquaculture sector with annual export capacity of $ 13 million; Lebanon, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Middle East and North Africa countries are performing fish exports. Regarding the tourism sector, Due to the potential of our region in the sea, plateau, gastronomy and cultural tourism, tourism investments and restoration work are done in our region and the number of hotels and bed capacities are increased.
Although some of the problems in neighboring countries affect our region negatively, we continue to believe that alternative solutions will be created and our district will deserve its position. With the right investments to unleash the potential of our region, and with projects, our uninterrupted development will continue with increasing momentum.
Best regards,
Levent Hakkı YILMAZ
Chairman of the Board