Ambitious Turkon Line sails into India trades 'dogfight'
Turkey’s Turkon Line is the latest carrier to target trades out of India as its emerging economy gains pace.
Istanbul-based Turkon has begun aggressively pushing cargo bookings for a direct India-Middle East-Red Sea service, with transhipment for European loadings.
The Turkey Red Sea India (TRI) will run on a weekly rotation of Ambarli-Evyap-Aliaga-Mersin-Aqaba-Jeddah-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-Jeddah-Aqaba-Alexandria-Ambarli.
“Turkon Line aims to provide its valuable customers direct access to the growing and expanding Indian market,” said the liner. “The new TRI service offers the fastest transit from Turkey to India via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, creating a vital link for the growing India-Turkey trade.”
TRI would “use reliable rail connections to swiftly move exports/imports between the two gateway ports and northern India hinterlands or inland container depots”.
The first West India (Nhava Sheva/Mundra) vessel call is scheduled for the first week in March, according to Mumbai-based Poseidon Shipping Agency, Turkon’s third-party agent in India.
The carrier will launch the TRI with four mid-size vessels and said it would add a fifth by June.
Turkon joins an array of feeder and regional operators that have already positioned themselves on India-Red Sea trades, claiming faster transits than the larger carriers that are rerouting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. This expansion seems to have set up a “dogfight” among carriers trying to secure sufficient freight to fill vessels.
Some signs of that are already visible. According to industry sources, there has been no upward movement in ocean rates from India to Europe this monthm despite a seasonal pattern of more exports, particularly grapes, seen in the run-up to end-March fiscal year closing for cargo owners.
“The grape season has started, but we don’t see any sort of booking problems, due excess capacity,” one forwarder told The Loadstar.
And Indian port volumes are upbeat. For example, Nhava Sheva boosted container volumes 23% year on year in January, bracing for a record throughput in fiscal year 2024-25.
The port has also had to deal with trucker pushback against gate delays and productivity drops in recent weeks, due to the volume buildup. In response, DP World-managed terminals at Nhava Sheva agreed to streamline the flow of container-laden trucks entering and exiting their gates.
Meanwhile, Turkon has more ambitious growth plans: a 50% capacity increase as two 4,000-teu newbuilds of different fuel types join its fleet.
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