Türkiye’s Logistics Sector: Ports, Road Haulage, Air Cargo and Corridors in Numbers (2026)

Why does Türkiye matter in logistics?

Position and scale. Türkiye sits where Europe meets Asia, with coastlines on the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean and land borders with the European Union to the west and the Caucasus, Iran, Iraq and Syria to the east and south. It is a large manufacturing exporter in its own right, in vehicles, textiles, white goods, steel and food, and it is a transit country for others.

That combination has produced a logistics sector with unusual breadth: one of Europe's largest international road-haulage fleets, a container port system spread across four seas, an air cargo hub of global rank and a growing rail link towards Central Asia. According to Türkiye's trade ministry, logistics and transport services generated US$42.4 billion of service exports in the latest full year, about 34.5% of the total, making the sector the second-largest service export after tourism and placing the country tenth in the world for logistics service exports.

On the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index, Türkiye scores 3.4 out of 5, level with Portugal, Lithuania and Saudi Arabia. Kurums explains how to read that score in Logistics by Country.

How does Türkiye's trade move?

Mostly by sea when measured by value, and overwhelmingly by sea when measured by weight. The International Transport and Logistics Service Providers Association, UTİKAD, publishes an annual sector report. Its 2025 edition, released in September 2026, gives the split of foreign trade by value.

The road share is high by international standards, and it reflects geography. Western Europe is two to four days away by truck, which is fast enough to compete with air for many goods and far quicker than a sea voyage around the continent. Air's share by value is also striking for a mode that carries very little weight; it shows how much high-value cargo Türkiye now ships and tranships by air.

How large are Türkiye's ports?

Large and growing. In 2025 Turkish ports handled about 14 million TEU of containers, up 3.5%, and 553.3 million tonnes of cargo in total, up 4%. Both were records. In the first nine months of 2026 the transport ministry reported 412.1 million tonnes and 10.77 million TEU, a 2.7% rise in containers, and official projections point to around 14.1 million TEU and 565 million tonnes for the full year.

Container traffic is concentrated. Five port regions, Ambarlı, Kocaeli, Tekirdağ, Mersin and Aliağa, handled 84% of containers in 2025, and all five appear among the world's hundred busiest container ports in Lloyd's List's ranking.

Two points deserve a buyer's attention. First, capacity. The port operators' association, TÜRKLİM, has warned that container terminals could approach yard-capacity limits between 2027 and 2030 on current growth, and its long-range scenario sees container volume exceeding 41 million TEU by 2050. Space for expansion around Istanbul is limited. Second, container imbalance: trade reporting on the port data notes that around 22% of export containers loaded on to ships in the first eleven months of 2025 left empty, a sign of the gap between import and export flows that affects equipment availability and pricing.

How important is road haulage?

Central. Road carries more than a quarter of foreign trade by value, and Turkish hauliers run a very large international fleet serving Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia. For European buyers this is the mode behind most quotations for palletised goods, sold either as a full truck or as groupage, which in Turkish is parsiyel taşımacılık. The Kurums guide to LTL, FTL and groupage explains how shared loads are priced.

Three routes link Türkiye and Western Europe by road.

The recurring constraints are administrative. Waiting times at the Bulgarian border, transit permit quotas set under bilateral agreements, and visa requirements for drivers entering the Schengen area are long-standing issues raised by the sector's associations. They are the reason transit times on this lane are quoted as a range.

How big is air cargo?

Big enough to place Istanbul among the world's major cargo airports. UTİKAD's report puts total cargo traffic at Turkish airports above 2.21 million tonnes in 2025. International cargo reached 2.1 million tonnes, the highest level in the 2015 to 2025 period, and Istanbul's airports handled 2.14 million tonnes of the national total.

The driver is the national carrier's network. Turkish Airlines ranked sixth among the world's airlines by cargo tonne-kilometres in IATA's 2024 statistics, with about 10.2 billion, and its cargo operation sells connections between Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas through Istanbul. For shippers this means two things: Turkish exporters have direct air access to an unusually wide list of destinations, and cargo from third countries often transfers through Istanbul. Kurums ranks the hubs and airlines in The World's Air Cargo Hubs and Airlines.

What about rail and the corridors?

Rail is small today and central to the plans. Its share of foreign trade by value is under 1%, but UTİKAD's report notes that rail accounts for 54% of the transport and logistics investment allocated for 2026, and long-term official targets foresee a large increase in freight tonnage by 2035.

Türkiye is a link in the Middle Corridor, the route between China and Europe that crosses Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus, entering Türkiye by the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and continuing under the Bosphorus through the Marmaray tunnel. Interest in the corridor has grown as shippers look for alternatives to routes through Russia and to long sea voyages. Its capacity is still limited by Caspian ferry crossings, differing rail gauges and the number of borders involved. A second project, the Development Road, aims to connect the Gulf to Türkiye through Iraq by road and rail.

What should a foreign buyer check when sourcing from Türkiye?

1. The mode behind the price. Road, sea and air quotations for the same goods can differ several-fold in cost and by weeks in time.
2. The Incoterm. Many Turkish exporters quote FOB a Turkish port or FCA their factory. Decide whether you or the supplier will control the freight.
3. Customs status. Türkiye has a customs union with the EU for industrial goods. Goods in free circulation move with an A.TR movement certificate, explained in the Kurums guide to customs documents. Agricultural products and goods needing proof of origin follow different rules.
4. Lead-time range. Ask for the best, typical and worst transit time over the last three months, not a single figure.
5. The forwarder's own network. A forwarder with its own offices or long-standing partners at both ends handles border problems better than one subcontracting the whole move.

For shipments by sea, compare a full container with a shared one using FCL vs LCL.

What is the outlook?

The direction is clear: more capacity, more rail and a stronger hub role. The open questions are practical. Port expansion has to keep pace with volume around a crowded Marmara. Road access to the EU depends on permits, visas and border processing that Türkiye does not control alone. And the corridor projects need consistent service before shippers will commit regular volume. Sector commentary through 2026 has also stressed green logistics, as EU carbon rules reach transport and exporters are asked for emissions data.

Where does e-commerce fit in?

Domestic parcel delivery has grown with online retail, and Türkiye's cargo companies have been investing in automated sorting capacity in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir. For cross-border sellers, the country's position makes it a practical base for serving Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus from one stock location, provided customs procedures for small consignments are planned in advance. The Kurums guide to e-commerce logistics covers the fulfilment models involved.

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