15 percent hike in transit fees for the Turkish Straits
The Gold Franc value used for vessels passing through the Turkish Straits without stopping will be increased by 15 percent to 5.83 dollars as of July 1, 2025. Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that with this regulation, transit fees have increased 7.2 times compared to before 2022.
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Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that they will increase the Gold Franc value—which is used to calculate fees for vessels passing through the Istanbul and Çanakkale Straits without stopping under the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits and is based on the net tonnage of the ships—by 15 percent compared to last year, bringing it to 5.83 US dollars as of July 1, 2025.
"WE WILL HAVE INCREASED TRANSIT FEES 7.2 TIMES COMPARED TO BEFORE 2022"
Minister Uraloğlu stated that this update is the fourth step in the tariff revisions initiated in 2022 in line with the Presidential Decree, and included the following remarks in his statement:
“We are regularly increasing the Gold Franc value, which remained fixed at 0.8 dollars for 39 years before 2022, through the work carried out by our General Directorate of Maritime Affairs every year. With this year's increase, we will have raised the rescue, lighthouse, and medical fees collected for transit by 7.2 times in US dollars compared to before 2022.”
Stating that costs will be reflected more fairly with the Gold Franc value revised according to current gold market data, Uraloğlu said, “This increase is quite valuable in terms of supporting the sustainability of the public services we provide in the Turkish Straits. With these fees we collect, we continue to constantly improve our necessary infrastructure and vessel traffic monitoring systems to ensure maritime safety and security, as well as to increase environmental safety in our Turkish Straits, which are among the world's most risky narrow waterways.”
227.4 MILLION DOLLARS COLLECTED IN 2024
Stating that there were 51 thousand 58 non-stop vessel transits through the Istanbul and Çanakkale Straits subject to these fees throughout 2024, Uraloğlu said that a total of 227.4 million dollars was collected from these ships. Uraloğlu included the following in his statement:
“This figure also reveals how high a cost is required to manage the Turkish Straits. As we have done before, we will continue to resolutely protect our country's rights and interests in accordance with international rules.”