Maintaining its strategic importance as a key hub on major trade routes since ancient times, the Gulf of İzmit today ranks among Europe’s leading maritime logistics centers.
According to maritime transport data for 2024 released by Eurostat, the Gulf of İzmit ranks as Europe’s fourth-largest maritime logistics hub in terms of gross weight of cargo handled, following the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp-Bruges, and Hamburg.
Based on statistics compiled from the Directorate General of Maritime Affairs, the number of vessels calling at ports located in the Gulf of İzmit situated at the eastern end of the Sea of Marmara increased by 2.3% year-on-year to reach 9,206 last year. The total gross tonnage of vessels calling at the gulf rose by 8.5% to 181.355 million gross tons. This increase indicates that ports in Kocaeli have become more attractive for higher-tonnage vessels.
In 2025, the Gulf of İzmit became the port area receiving the highest number of vessel calls in Türkiye. Of the total 62,656 vessels calling at Turkish ports last year, approximately 15% called at the Gulf of İzmit. The Aliağa Port Region ranked second with 6,224 vessels, followed by Ambarlı with 4,194 vessels, İskenderun with 4,175 vessels, and the Mersin port area with 3,924 vessels.
The gross weight of cargo handled at the ports within the jurisdiction of the Kocaeli Port Authority remained at the same level as in 2024, totaling 83.939 million tons. Of this volume, 69.352 million tons consisted of international cargo, 11.752 million tons were domestic cabotage cargo, and 2.835 million tons were recorded as transit cargo.
Total container throughput in the region’s ports reached 2.505 million TEUs, of which 2.2 million TEUs were related to international transport.
A significant increase was recorded in the number of vehicles transported on Kocaeli’s international Ro-Ro lines in 2025. While a total of 3,262 vehicles were transported on Ro-Ro lines departing from Kocaeli last year, 1,907 of these were outbound vehicles. The number of vehicles transported on Ro-Ro lines connected to Kocaeli increased nearly fourfold compared to the previous year.
On a route basis, the highest number of vehicles was transported on the Koper line, with 1,497 vehicles carried. This was followed by the Valencia line with 1,111 vehicles. The Barcelona line handled 310 vehicles, Antwerp 228 vehicles, and Piraeus 116 vehicles.
Of the vehicles transported on the Koper line, 1,472 were outbound vehicles, while all vehicles transported on the Valencia line were inbound. On the Barcelona line, 307 vehicles were outbound, 207 on the Antwerp line, and 107 on the Piraeus line were recorded as outbound vehicles.
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