Arkas was awarded in the “Turkish Company” category by the Official Spanish-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Held for the 7th time this year, the ceremony honors individuals, institutions and organizations which contribute to the relations between Türkiye and Spain through their activities. Arkas Line CEO Can Atalay received the award on behalf of Arkas.
Spanish and Turkish high-level government representatives as well as distinguished guests from the business and art community were present at the “Spanish-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry Award Ceremony”, which was organized for the 7th time this year by the Official Spanish-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry headquartered in Madrid.
Since its establishment in 2011, the Official Spanish-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which aims to contribute to the development and strengthening of relations between Spain and Türkiye in the economic, commercial, social and cultural fields, awarded Arkas in the “Turkish Company” category.
Arkas Has Been Operating in Spain for 17 Years
Receiving the award on behalf of Arkas, Arkas Line CEO Can Atalay first conveyed the message of Lucien Arkas, Chairman of Arkas Holding. In his message, Arkas emphasized that bilateral relations between the two countries are rooted in a historical background, in addition to the common culture of two Mediterranean countries and continued “Our diplomatic relations were established in 1783 and our cooperation has been strengthening day by day since 1951 when it was raised to the level of Embassy. Spain has always had a special place for me in the Mediterranean, which I call Mare Nostrum, or “Our Sea”. Spain is currently one of our largest trading partners in Europe. When the trade volume between Türkiye and Spain grew by 44 percent in 2004, we decided to open our first office in Spain in 2005. Today’s picture proves that this was a very wise decision. In the following years, Arkas Spain launched new lines not only between Türkiye and Spain, but also to North African, West African and Eastern Mediterranean countries, supporting Spanish importers and exporters in new regions. In this sense I am very proud that Arkas was awarded in the “Category of Turkish Companies” operating in Spain. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude towards the Official Spanish-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry for this award and their kind invitation.”
Atalay said “Arkas is one of the oldest Turkish maritime companies with roots dating back to 1902, providing maritime, logistics and port services as main business lines, through 59 offices located in 23 countries on 3 continents with 7300 employees. Today, Arkas Line carries out container transportation in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, West Africa and Northern Europe. With 47 vessels in our fleet, we rank first among Turkish container transportation companies in terms of capacity and 30th in the world ranking.
As Lucien Arkas emphasized, we have been operating as Arkas Spain since 2005 as a shipping agency in Spain, one of the most important markets where Arkas has developed its activities. Now we are happy to see that today Arkas Spain has more than 80 employees and manages an annual volume of nearly 80,000 TEU in imports and exports. We also connect the ports of Spain to more than 35 ports, including the main ports of Türkiye, and manage 25 vessel calls per month, which allows us to provide regular weekly services to our customers. We will continue to serve for the development of trade relations between Türkiye and Spain by developing and growing day by day.” Atalay received the award from Burak Akcapar, Turkish Ambassador to Spain.
The Chamber awards companies in three different categories and the second award is in the “Spanish Company” Category. This award was given to Barceló Group for their contribution to the development of tourism between the two countries, while, the first Turkish CEO of BBVA Bank, Mr. Onur Genc, was awarded in the third “Professional Merit” category.
Having become a point of reference in the economic, cultural and commercial fields between the two countries with the seminars and events it has organized and the sectoral reports it has prepared since it was established in 2011, the Official Spanish-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry has more than 120 members in different industries and sizes.