Port of Trabzon

Trabzon is where dry cargo, container and transit traffic meet on the eastern Black Sea. This page covers how the port is set up, where ships anchor, and how you can follow that traffic with VesselCall.

Port profile: location, operator and cargo

The Port of Trabzon is a multipurpose port in the Ortahisar district, directly in front of the city center and protected by a breakwater. It is run by Trabzon Liman İşletmeciliği A.Ş., an Albayrak Group company that took over a 30-year operating right for the port in 2003. The Trabzon Free Zone also lies within the port limits.

According to the operator’s service pages, the port handles:

• Dry bulk, general cargo and project cargo
• Containers, including CFS operations and reefer power connections
• Liquid cargo, with fuel storage tanks inside the port
• Ro-Ro cargo, at a dedicated Ro-Ro berth

The operator describes Trabzon as the starting point of a transit route toward Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Turkic republics. Statistics from Türkiye’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure show about 3.1 million tons of cargo handled in the Trabzon harbour master’s area in 2025.

Vessel traffic and anchorages

Trabzon’s traffic does not depend on a single cargo type. At the berths you will see dry bulk and general cargo ships, container ships and liquid cargo vessels, and the port also receives cruise ships. The ministry counted 541 calling vessels in the Trabzon harbour master’s area in 2025.

The Trabzon harbour master defines three anchorages. We calculated the distances below from the official corner coordinates, measured from the port basin:

The pilot boarding point is about 1 nm northeast of the port. The port operator provides pilotage and towage around the clock.

Which service companies find work in Trabzon?

A mixed cargo profile opens different doors for different service firms:

• Ship chandlers: Provisions, cabin stores and deck supplies for dry cargo and container ships, plus larger orders during the cruise season. See our page for ship chandlers.
• Ship agents: Transit cargo, project shipments and Ro-Ro sailings all need port and customs formalities handled. Read how VesselCall works for ship agents.
• Technical service and spare parts: Engine, electrical and deck equipment service for ships at berth or at anchor.
• Surveyors: Draft surveys for dry bulk, and loading and lashing checks for project cargo.

How VesselCall monitors the Port of Trabzon

In Outreach, you select Trabzon and set a range (radius). We suggest 10 nautical miles: that circle covers the port, the pilot boarding point and all three anchorages, including No. 3, the farthest one. VesselCall detects cargo ships, tankers and passenger ships that enter the range and filters out tugs, pilot boats, fishing boats and yachts by default.

Using the vessel’s IMO number, VesselCall identifies the ship manager or commercial manager, then the ISM manager, then the registered owner. Your introduction e-mail goes out from your own company domain, in the recipient’s language.

The Data package records port calls at Trabzon independently of e-mail sending: arrival and departure times, length of stay, and whether the ship waited at anchor or at berth. Period reports show vessel types, flags and the most frequent ship managers, and you can export the list to CSV or Excel. Records build up from the day monitoring starts.