Istanbul: The Turkish straits, namely the Istanbul and Canakkale straits, witnessed a significant maritime activity with 62,736 vessels passing through in the first nine months of the year, as reported by the Turkish transport and infrastructure minister to Anadolu.

According to Anadolu Agency, Abdulkadir Uraloglu detailed that 29,710 vessels transited the Istanbul Strait, while 33,029 traveled via the Canakkale Strait from January to September. Of the total number of vessels, 21,235 were general cargo ships, and 11,437 were bulk carriers. Additionally, 7,959 container ships navigated through the Turkish straits, contributing to a total of 1.1 million gross tons of ships during the same period.

In terms of port activity, 47,631 vessels called at Turkish ports within the first nine months. Among these, 30,854 carried foreign flags, while 16,770 were Turkish-flagged. The northwestern province of Kocaeli welcomed 1,967 Turkish-flagged vessels, followed by Cesme with 1,374, Aliaga with 1,331, and Ambarli with 1,231. Kocaeli also recorded the highest number of foreign-flagged vessels, totaling 4,946, followed by Aliaga with 3,332, Iskenderun with 2,654, and Mersin with 2,430.

Uraloglu highlighted the significance of these figures, stating, "The data points to our strengthening position in the world maritime trade." He further noted that Turkish ports handled 457 million tons of cargo in the last 10 months, with the number of containers reaching 11.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). The period also saw a new record in cruise ship arrivals, with 1,278 cruise ships carrying over 2 million passengers docking at Turkish ports.