Ayhan Yildizel,The CEO of ARTI Denizcilik
IRANIMEX: Unlocking Iran’s Maritime Potential on the Global Stage
I am Ayhan Yildizel, CEO of ARTI Denizcilik (Maritime), with over 23 years of experience, leads one of Turkey’s leading companies in the maritime industry. ARTI Denizcilik supplies products for shipbuilding, yacht construction, and naval defense projects. What sets us apart is our commitment to providing high-quality, innovative equipment, along with comprehensive pre- and post-sales support, and fostering strong, trust-based relationships within the sector.
At IRANIMEX, our goal was to establish new collaborations with companies from Iran and the surrounding region. Given the current international regulations around trade with Iran, we aimed to offer top-quality products sourced from Turkish and European manufacturers.
Based on my observations, the Iranian shipbuilding industry is open to development and innovation despite the existing restrictions and challenges. This potential can be further realized through international cooperation, and the IRANIMEX exhibition plays a key role in making this happen. While this year’s event mostly featured Turkish companies, for future editions, it would be great to see more international participation, particularly from countries like China and South Korea.
One of the main challenges for the marine equipment industry in Iran is that the domestic sales volume is limited due to the number of ongoing projects. As a result, exporting is crucial. In my view, it’s not yet the right time to establish marine equipment production in Iran, but this could change as the marine industry grows in the coming years.
The location of Bandar Abbas offers a major advantage in serving the region’s ship repair and new construction needs, and this opportunity should be further explored.
In conclusion, the exhibition was a good start, and there’s room for improvement moving forward. If the event is to become fully international, translating the opening speeches into a widely spoken language like English would be helpful. Additionally, having interpreters available for international meetings would be a great addition.
To describe the exhibition in one sentence I could say that IRANIMEX is a valuable platform for fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange in the maritime industry, with great potential to grow into a leading international event in the coming years.