This is his exuberant life among the waves

We've brought to our pages Ali Aktoprak, a successful name in the Turkish maritime community and the Founding Partner of Celestial Shipping Agency and Marine Services. We spoke with him about both his story of stepping into the maritime profession and his 30-year journey in the sector. We saw that in his world, maritime is not just a profession, but a passion. Leaving behind military discipline to set sail for the infinite horizon of the sea, Aktoprak has written a completely different life for himself, filled with success.

From Izmir Maltepe Military High School to Ankara Army War College

My maritime adventure began in 1993 when I left the Army War College. Perhaps my passion for Izmir and the thought that I couldn't live in a city without a sea detached me from Ankara and brought me back to Izmir. I fell in love with this city during my four years as a student after I won the entrance exam for Maltepe Military High School in 1987. Every day, I would watch the ships entering and leaving the port of Izmir from the Güzelbahçe anchorage and dream. On weekends, I would always find an excuse to take a city line ferry. Then I started the Army War College, and the cold, smoke-filled air and gray buildings of Ankara, where natural gas was not used in those years, led me to a great depression. I could only endure for two years and decided to leave. I packed my suitcase and returned to Izmir on the first bus. Since that day, Izmir has become an indispensable part of my life.

My First Step into Maritime with Efe Shipping and Provisions Company

In the fall of 1993, I started working at a company called Efe Shipping and Provisions. This is how I became acquainted with ships and the maritime sector. While continuing to work, I also continued my university education, which I had left unfinished. In 1994, with the start of transit bonded provisions in Turkey, the closure of Efe Provisions was on the agenda, and we, as the employees, took over the company and made the correct decision to switch to the shipping agency sector. In this way, I had the chance to work at a very young age in a company I co-owned, and also with the doyen names of the shipping agency of that period. The agency services, which started at Güllük port, continued with the ports of Izmir, Aliağa, and Dikili.

An Entrepreneurial Spirit, Opening the Doors to Brokerage and Then Ship Chartering

Thanks to my entrepreneurial personality, I did not limit myself to just agency work, and with my own dedication, I first started ship brokerage and then ship chartering. In 1997, I transferred my shares in Efe and, together with my new partner, founded Asin Denizcilik Tic. Ltd. company, based in Güllük. We brought together all the mining companies exporting from the port of Güllük and spearheaded the existence of Labranda Port Management Inc. We had the chance to increase the loading speed several times over by using modern conveyor belt systems that we had manufactured and brought from England to the old TDİ pier, where loading was done with an outdated and obsolete system. This process made the exporting companies more receptive to the idea of building a new pier. We accomplished many successful works within Asin Denizcilik until 2001 when I decided to go to Australia for management and chartering training. Upon my return from Australia, I decided to continue my journey alone and this time founded Egetrans Denizcilik, based in Izmir. My connection with Güllük port never broke. In 2003, for Kaltun Mining, we established a management company called Karya Denizcilik Inc. and started operating by purchasing two handy size dry cargo ships. My technical ship management experience, which started with Karya, continued with Ataduru Denizcilik Ltd., which we co-founded with Gürbüz Mining in 2004. Our journey of technical management, which started with one ship at Ataduru, reached 8 ships in 2008. We successfully carried out the "full management" of these ships, including technical, personnel, and commercial management, all under one roof. During the crisis period that started in mid-2008, we gradually started to sell the ships we owned and continued to provide more chartering and brokerage services.

A New Chapter: General Manager of Kepez Port

In June 2012, there was a serious change in my professional life, and I was appointed as the General Manager of Çanakkale Port Management Inc., or as everyone knows it, Kepez Port. During my time at Kepez Port, we added new business lines to the operation in addition to port activities. For example, we made it possible to provide marine fuel (bunkering), which was previously only done in the anchorage area before the Istanbul Strait, also in the Çanakkale Strait. We established a transit fuel terminal and built storage tanks within the Kepez Port's bonded area. We obtained licenses for fuel storage and delivery and purchased fuel delivery ships. For fuel deliveries, which were said to be impossible in the Çanakkale Strait, we made the Bozcaada anchorage a service point. Also, as a marine investment consultant, I made many important contributions to the process from the project phase of the ETKİ LNG/FSRU Terminal, the first of its kind in Turkey, to the provision of gas flow. As you know, an FSRU (Floating Storage & Regasification Unit) is a floating LNG storage vessel and regasification facility. It offers more effective solutions compared to land terminals, both in terms of cost and implementation time. Furthermore, when the project is completed, it can leave the terminal it is attached to and serve again at another terminal. Again, during my time at Kepez Port, I served as a member of the Members' Committee on the senior management of the London P&I Club, one of the members of the IGC (International Group of P&I Clubs), for 4.5 years. During the more than 9 years I worked at Kepez Port, our number of employees almost tripled, while our turnover reached 6 times its initial amount. After I left my position at the port in September 2021, we decided not to leave Çanakkale, which we love so much, and to spend the rest of our lives here with my family, as if on vacation. But my passion for the agency profession prevailed again, and I couldn't stay idle, so this time I founded Celestial Shipping Agency. 

The Passion for Agency Work Never Stops, and Celestial Shipping Agency Comes to Life

I would like to tell you a little bit about Celestial. Although Celestial was initially set up to provide agency and chartering services, we later began to pursue larger project-based works. For example, tanker owners and operators for whom we do shipyard agency work asked for our help with tank cleaning and gas freeing before entering the shipyard. We started providing tank cleaning services in the Bozcaada anchorage area with a qualified and experienced shore team. We did not limit these services to Turkey and successfully completed cleaning and gas freeing work for FSOs and FPSOs (Floating Storage and Processing Offshore vessels) that had completed their service life abroad, before they were dismantled.

The Danube River Transportation Project, Paused Due to the Russia-Ukraine War

One of our most important projects was, of course, our alternative waterway transportation service that would enable products exported from Turkey to Europe to be delivered deep into Northern Europe by using the Danube River. While the existing route goes from Romania's Port of Constanta, we set up the alternative route via Ukraine's ports of Reni and Izmail. For this purpose, we founded another company called Celestial Ukraine Ltd. in Odessa, which can be considered a branch of our company. Through this company, we signed two separate contracts with Ukrricflot and UDP, doyen names of the Ukrainian transportation sector. We took the loads we received from the ports of Aliağa and Dikili with Ukrrichflot's river vessels and transferred them to UDP's barges at the ports of Reni and Izmail, and then carried them to Germany's Passau Port via pusher tugs. We stopped at almost every river port along the route, delivering our cargo to the recipients safely and quickly. However, due to the Russia-Ukraine war that started in February 2022, our Ukrainian-flagged ships could not enter the Black Sea, and the Ukrainian state made an emergency decision to only allow barges of UDP to transport Ukrainian-owned cargo from the ports of Reni and Izmail. For this reason, we had to suspend our Danube Project. The ports of Reni and Izmail and the barges operating on the Danube River are still serving as Ukraine's only safe waterway connection to the world. During the war, Ukraine made serious investments in these two ports to increase their capacity. I am sure that after the war ends, we will continue our Danube River Transportation Project from where we left off through these ports. We have not broken our close relations with Ukraine during the war, and we hope that this unfounded war will end as soon as possible and life in Ukraine will return to normal. We will continue to support Ukraine's reconstruction process.

Source: 7DENIZ MAGAZİNE