We put our lives on the line for our country to become a world leader

Sanmar is one of the companies we are proud of both for our sector and our country. In our conversation with Ali Gürün, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, we realized that Gürün is one of the seafarers who have put their lives on the line for our country to become a world leader in high-tech modern ships. "All the environmentally friendly tugboats in the world can be built in our shipyards. Methanol is produced only in our shipyards. Electricity is built in 4-5 places in the world, including two in Turkey, while LNG is built in 1-2 places. Any two of these are not built in one place at the same time. In our shipyards, four different new technologies can be built at the same time," Gürün said, adding that for Sanmar, 2023 will surpass all other years in terms of exports and production.

Ali Gürün, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sanmar Denizcilik, talked about the factors that enabled them to achieve success in the field of environmentally friendly tugboats and said, "The most important reason why we have achieved this success is working together with Mr. Cem from day one to be the best in the world in this field. How do we make the highest quality product, how do we provide the best tugboat service, how do we produce the strongest, most environmentally friendly, most stable tugboat? How should we design the most comfortable and safe tugboat for our employees? We came to our shipyard by thinking about how to make our shipyard one of the most special shipyards in the world, and we tried to do the best of everything. We did this in every aspect of our lives. Our human resources, financial affairs, design department, occupational health and safety department, ethics line, trainings, the values we have created within the company... We tried to make the best of it all. We took care to establish the best relations with everyone. We thought about how we could take this further not only in tugboat construction and tugboat operation as a profession, but also in our maritime sector in general together with the administration, and we worked for this cause. We put our whole life into it and we saw it in the results."

Third shipyard coming

Referring to the ongoing shipyard constructions, Gürün said, "We have completed all the construction permits and projects for this place, which will be Sanmar's third shipyard and our second shipyard in Tuzla. Therefore, we plan to start the construction of the third shipyard in 2024 and complete it by 2025. According to our calculations, 2024 will be a record for all years with the delivery of 34 tugboats. Currently, we continue to build and operate tugboats with a team of approximately 1600 people in our 2 shipyards. The year 2023 will also be the record of all years in exports. Because almost all of these 34 tugboats will be exported. The most important feature of these tugs is that at least 5 of them will be electric and 2 of them will be LNG tugs. The rest will be exported all over the world, from Morocco to the Seychelles, from Italy to Norway, from Canada to Spain and Denmark. In other words, 2023 has reached a level that surpasses all years in terms of export and production." 

Can produce all green tugs at the same time

Gürün said, "We are currently building the world's first methanol tugboat for our Dutch customer to operate in Canada. This year, we are also delivering the first LNG tugboats in Canada and North America, although they are not the first in the world. We have delivered two electric tugs to Canada so far. One of them has arrived in Canada and the other one is on its way and is sailing on its own. It continues to sail without any problems. The third and fourth tugs will be delivered in September and October. The other one will be in November. These are being built at the same time. All the environmentally friendly tugs in the world can also be built in our shipyards.  Methanol is being built only in Turkey. The electric one is being built in a total of 4-5 places in the world, two of which are in Turkey. LNG is being built in 1-2 places. Any two of these are not being built in one place at the same time. We are building 4 different new technologies at the same time. We believe that Turkey's future lies in high-tech modern ships. Therefore, we are prioritizing ships built with high technology. This is very important for us, and by the end of the year, Sanmar will be the world's largest electric tugboat manufacturer. We will deliver our 7th tugboat in January."

Our contribution to Turkey's ranking first in the world in this field is great

"In my opinion, Sanmar is the company that has contributed the most to Turkey's ranking first in the world in tugboat construction," Gürün said, "Of course, this can also be expressed in general terms by putting forward certain figures. In other words, as a company that has built Turkey's first private tugboat, the first LNG, methanol, hybrid, remote-controlled tugboat, many world firsts, and exported to many countries for the first time, we think and know that we are one of the most important manufacturers of the world's number one high specification tugboat manufacturer country. We are by far the leading company in terms of the most tugboats built, the most exports, the largest fleet, and exports to many countries."

Exchange rate affects costs

Making evaluations for the upcoming period, Gürün said, "2024 does not seem to be a year that will pass as fast as 2023 in terms of production, sales and exports. However, we still predict that 2024 will be a year that will reach a value close to the average of 2022 and previous years. Especially at the moment, there is a serious increase in labor and Turkish Lira costs in foreign currency due to the fact that exchange rates have not reached the level desired by exporters. This makes it difficult for the production and export capacity to catch up with these years in the coming years."

Need for mid-level technicians on the rise

Gürün also shared his thoughts on meeting the need for qualified personnel in the sector and said, "The most important step to be taken is to accelerate the training of technicians who know how to do the right, quality work and who are experts in shipbuilding. Because we are currently seeing an increase in the need for mid-level technicians and we believe that young people should be encouraged more to meet this need."

TURK MARINEWS