Port of Ambarlı

Container ships lead the traffic at Ambarlı. According to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the Ambarlı Regional Harbour Master’s area handled 3,428,048 TEU in 2025, the highest container volume in Türkiye. The Ministry’s vessel statistics list 4,194 calling vessels in the Ambarlı harbour master’s area that year.

Port profile

Ambarlı is a port area on the European side of Istanbul, on the Sea of Marmara. The terminal addresses are in the Marmara neighborhood of Beylikdüzü. According to TÜRKLİM records, the main facilities are:

• Marport, Kumport and Mardaş: container terminals.
• Akçansa Ambarlı Port: the port of Akçansa Çimento, which also handles general cargo and dry bulk.

The shared services of the terminals are coordinated by Altaş Ambarlı Port Facilities.

The Ministry’s 2025 Ro-Ro statistics also show regular Ro-Ro lines from Ambarlı to Trieste and Patras. The port falls under the Ambarlı Regional Harbour Master.

Vessel traffic and anchorages

Liner container ships set the pattern at Ambarlı: the same ships return to the same port at set intervals and usually stay at berth for a short time. Ro-Ro vessels and ships carrying cement and general cargo add to that traffic.

According to the annex to the Ports Regulation, the Ambarlı anchorages lie west and southwest of the port, off the coast toward Büyükçekmece Bay. The areas are split by ship size and cargo: separate areas for ships under 1600 GT, ships of 1600 GT and above, ships carrying dangerous goods, and naval vessels. The pilot boarding point is south of the port. Just east of the port begins the Küçükçekmece anchorage, defined by the Turkish Straits Maritime Traffic Regulation for the southern entrance of the Bosphorus. In 2025 the Ministry warned masters not to anchor outside the Ambarlı anchorage because of subsea cables and pipelines.

Which service companies find work at Ambarlı?

Liner ships run on schedules, so preparation has to happen before arrival.

• Ship chandlers: provisions, cabin stores and deck and engine consumables planned around the berth window. See ship chandlers.
• Technical service and spare parts firms: troubleshooting, calibration and parts deliveries that fit a short stay. See marine technical services.
• Ship agents: off-schedule calls, Ro-Ro vessels and cement carriers need an agent on every call.
• Surveyors: container and cargo damage surveys, and on-hire and off-hire surveys.

How does VesselCall monitor Ambarlı?

In Outreach you set a range for each port: a radius in nautical miles (nm) measured from the port center. For Ambarlı we suggest 8 nm. That circle covers the terminals, the approach and the anchorages west of the port. The Küçükçekmece anchorage to the east also falls inside it; not every ship anchored there will call at Ambarlı, so approval mode is useful here. Stretching the circle further east brings in the other anchorages at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus.

When a cargo ship, tanker or passenger ship enters that circle, VesselCall uses its IMO number to find the company that manages it and sends your introduction e-mail in that company’s language, from your own domain. Tugs, pilot boats and fishing boats are filtered out by default.

The Data package works independently of e-mail sending. It records every port call at Ambarlı with arrival, departure, length of stay and whether the ship was at anchor or at berth, and its period reports show which ship managers call most often. Records build up from the day monitoring starts.