Meke, On Duty for the Seas of the Future

Kerem Kemerli, CEO of Meke Marine Cleaning, emphasizes that the company was founded in 1984 with the mission of “Leaving clean seas for our children,” stating that they began fighting against marine litter long before the IMO. Kemerli highlights that "17 different nationalities have worked at Meke, which has partnerships with companies from the Netherlands, France, Spain, Greece, England, America, Indonesia, Kuwait, and Kazakhstan. Training can be provided in 10 different languages," and states that they proudly follow the successful projects carried out by their former employees in Türkiye and around the world.

Kerem Kemerli, CEO of Meke, says, "Today, Meke Marine Cleaning provides services in the Black Sea, Aegean, Mediterranean, Adriatic, Caspian, Middle East, Indian Ocean, and Java Sea with its own companies in 5 countries (Türkiye, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Croatia), and exports services, response equipment, and boats to dozens of countries (Indonesia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt, Oman, Croatia, Greece, TRNC, Malta, Tunisia)," and states that they focus on oil and chemical clean-up on sea and land, also provide engineering services with innovative approaches through vertical integration, and simultaneously design and manufacture equipment.

We started fighting against marine litter before the IMO

Emphasizing that Meke, which provides services within the framework of IMO's conventions MARPOL, OPRC, and HNS Conventions, started fighting marine litter before the IMO, Kemerli states that Meke was among the first to take this step not only in Türkiye but also in the world. Kemerli lists the services provided by Meke along with their history as follows:

• In the early 1990s, it launched the service of cleaning garbage from the sea surface.
• In 1994, after providing the service of transporting the collected oil ashore with waste collection vessels with heated tanks during the Nassia Oil Tanker accident in the Istanbul Strait, it began offering the Oil Spill Response Service, which was not professionally done in Türkiye at that time.
• In 1997, manufacturing of oil containment booms began.
• At the end of 1999, in the Volgoneft 248 ship accident, a Turkish company worked as the entity responsible for the entire response for the first time.
• In 2003, it was selected as the main response firm for offshore operations by the national oil company TPAO and worked as the sole response firm in all offshore oil exploration activities carried out in Turkish waters.
• In 2004, it was selected as the first response firm (together with a foreign partner) for the BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) Pipeline.
• In 2005, Law No. 5312 on Response to Oil and Chemical Spills was published.
• In 2007, within the framework of the implementation regulation of Law No. 5312 published in the same year, the company, aiming to offer training and engineering services to its sector under a single roof, initiated a new formation under the brand Meke Akademi, and the sea surface spill modeling software called MekeSlik® was brought to life in the same year.
• In 2008, Meke started providing services in Kazakhstan and has since taken part in various roles in all oil and gas exploration activities carried out in the Caspian Sea. Preparing emergency response plans, conducting spill modeling, preparing sensitive area maps, providing OPRC training, conducting drills, providing standby and response services with support vessels, emergency response vessels, and its own personnel, sales of equipment and workboats, and controller services are some of the services provided in Kazakhstan.
• In 2011, Meke entered the Middle East market by establishing companies under its own name in Kuwait and continues to serve the Oil and Gas industry. All Risk analysis studies, Sensitive area maps, spill modeling, and Emergency Response Plans for the Al Zour refinery in Kuwait, which is the largest in the Middle East and the 4th largest in the world, with its first phase commissioned in 2021, were prepared by Meke engineers and valuable faculty members of Turkish universities.
• In 2012, a memorandum of understanding was signed with OSRL for mutual support in Tier 3 operations.
• In 2013, Meke started providing the first Tier 3 service in Pakistan, and in later years offered the same service to its customers in Kazakhstan and Egypt.
• In 2013, the company Gurita Samudera was established with a local partner in Indonesia, allowing the Far East to benefit from our know-how.
• It has been the Tier 3 partner of Petrol Ofisi, Shell, and Total in Türkiye.
• It is the only Turkish company representing Türkiye in many international organizations (ISCO, International Spill Control Organisation; Euroshore, Marine Care Association; EuroSpill, European Spill Response Organisation; GIPM, Groupement Intervention Pollution Marine).
• Until 2005, Meke only presented articles at seminars and conferences in Türkiye, but since 2005, as a sought-after organization, it has shared its know-how and the incidents it has encountered at conferences in North and South America, Australia, Africa, Asia, and Europe, covering 6 continents.
• At the end of 2022, Meke was commissioned to revise Türkiye's National Emergency Response Plan for Oil and Chemical Spills and to revise Law No. 5312 in line with current developments.

We proudly follow the successful steps taken by our former employees

"17 different nationalities have worked at Meke, which has partnerships with companies from the Netherlands, France, Spain, Greece, England, America, Indonesia, Kuwait, and Kazakhstan. Training can be provided in 10 different languages," said Kemerli, explaining that they proudly follow the successful steps taken by individuals who left Meke and charted their own course in Türkiye and the world.

Source: 7deniz Magazine