15.02.2023
On February 6, a powerful earthquake occurred in Turkey. The epicenter of the earthquake was identified near the city of Gaziantep, it is about 110 km from the port of Iskenderun.
Iskenderun is a major Turkish port in the Eastern Mediterranean. It works with container ships, oil tankers and bulk carriers. During the earthquake, the outer rows of containers were piled into one pile and a strong fire started. Therefore, the work of the port was suspended.
Alexey Lipatov, Executive Director of ACEX, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta what damage will result in the Turkish port of Iskenderun during the earthquake.
"The damage to containers in the port is serious. This means that the infrastructure is also damaged, but the Turkish side does not know how much," Lipatov says.
"This will lead to delays in the departure of ships to Novorossiysk, since the ships arriving in Iskenderun will be redirected to the nearest ports - Mersin, Izmir, Istanbul, which are already heavily loaded," the expert explains.
Delays will also affect the handling of air cargo, as airport services organize the reception and processing of emergency flights with equipment and rescuers to eliminate the consequences of the earthquake. But the current situation will not affect the delivery of goods by road.