The number of ships passing through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles in 2023 increased by 8.2%, and the number of cruise ships entering Turkish ports increased by 20%

This was announced by Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu. A total of 83,892 ships passed through the Turkish Straits, 39,000 - through the Bosphorus Strait and 44,892 - through the Dardanelles. Uraloglu also noted that global maritime trade grew by 3%, and that in 2024, maritime trade is expected to grow by another 2.1% to 12.636 billion tons.

"Given that many ports are closed due to the war on the Black Sea, and those that are open are not operating at full capacity, we believe that an increase in the number of ships passing through the Turkish Straits will lead to a further increase in maritime traffic in the Black Sea," the minister added.

The number of cruise ships entering ports in 2023 amounted to 1,192, an increase of 20% compared to last year, and the number of cruise passengers visiting ports amounted to 1 million 542 thousand 522 passengers, an increase of 52.6% percent compared to 2023, and said: "The largest number of cruise ship calls (531 vessels) visited the port of Kusadasi. "These figures are the highest since 2015, and our goal for 2024 is to reach 2 million passengers," Uraloglu said.