图片来源：VesselFinder
Turkish carriers Turkon Line and Arkas Line, relative newcomers to the Indian trade landscape, are rapidly cementing their operations in the emerging market.
A vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) between Turkon and Arkas, launched in early 2025 with regular sailings between West India and the Red Sea region, has now been upgraded with bigger tonnage, as the service appeal brightens.
A brand new 4,000-teu LNG-fuelled vessel recently joined the weekly loop, enhancing loading capacity for both carriers out of India.
这 Kasif Kalkavan (pictured above), was added to Turkon’s fleet in July, and is said to be the first domestically built LNG-powered dual-fuel containership.
The latest tonnage phase-in follows Turkon adding a fifth 4,000-teu vessel into the joint service last October. Turkon has branded the service as Turkey-Red Sea-India (TRI), with Arkas operating it as India-Med Service (IMS).
The VSA partners recently expanded the service coverage with a new call at Safaga port in Egypt. The updated rotation is Ambarli-Izmit-Aliaga-Mersin-Iskenderun-Safaga-Jeddah-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-Ambarli.
Turkon is represented in India by third-party agent Abrao Group, while Arkas’ local operations are handled by Mumbai-based Parekh Group.
The niche regional carriers have already made significant inroads into the India-Mediterranean trade – a market that is traditionally controlled by the larger deepsea carriers – riding on aggressive sales and pricing strategies along with customised intermodal rail service support, especially for Indian reefer export cargo.
The rail push included Arkas collaborating with state-owned intermodal operator Container Corporation of India (Concor) to offer specialised, double-stack block train services connecting major inland container depots, including Dadri near Delhi, to Nhava Sheva (JNPA) and Mundra ports.
“The launch of the double stack reefer block train will deliver a game-changing advantage for cold chain logistics in India, offering customers enhanced efficiency, reduced transit times and an environmentally sustainable logistics solution,” Arkas earlier said.
However, industry updates suggest containerised trade out of Turkey is being plagued by growing equipment availability issues, seemingly due to carriers’ strained inventory cycles in the wake of persistent service disruptions amid the Middle East geopolitical quagmire.
Reflecting that bottleneck, MSC has just announced it will begin charging a $100 per container equipment repositioning surcharge (ERC) for trades across Turkish ports, effective 1 October.
Container freight rates on the India-Med trade have been strong because of capacity pressures, as mainliners had suspended or curtailed Red Sea routings over operational safety and security risks.
Surcharges continue to pour into Persian Gulf-related trades. The newest announcement comes from Hapag-Lloyd, seeking additional charges for offering an alternative solution for affected Aden-bound cargo currently in Jeddah port. The carrier said stranded containers would be transported from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Aden, Yemen, via a third-party feeder service at an extra cost to customers.
The surcharges range between $1,700 and $5,000 per container, varying in cargo/equipment types.
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