TRNC-produced tugboat exported to Israel
THE first “multi-purpose tugboat” built at a shipyard in Gazimağusa without any state aid has been sent on its way to the port of Haifa in Israel.
Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Commerce president Turgay Deniz, Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry president Ali Kamacıoğlu, Cyprus Turkish Shipowners Association head Yıltan Özkıraç, Gazimağusa Port chairman Captain Kemal Yapıcı, other guests and shipyard employees attended the tugboat delivery ceremony held at the Gazimağusa Port on Thursday last week.
Gökalp Gündoğdu, the general manager of Shipyard Famagusta Ltd., said at the ceremony that the “high horsepower” tugboat was completed in 2021 by 120 employees and will serve ships and port operations in Israeli seas.
Mr Gündoğdu stated that they are “proud to have made this sale to the global market” without any “incentives” from the state.
“I would like to thank each and every one of my colleagues for all their efforts, from the construction of the multi-purpose tugboat to its delivery,” he said.
Mr Gündoğdu added that the tugboat had been designed by a firm in Turkey and “inspected and registered internationally” by the Italian ship classification firm RINA (Registro Italiano Navale).
Mr Deniz said at the ceremony that the idea of building a ship in the TRNC and selling it abroad had once been a “dream” but “now we are living that moment”.
He “wholeheartedly” congratulated his “dear friend” Mr Gündoğdu and all his colleagues “in achieving this success”.