FURTRANS
M. Faruk Urkmez established his own company in 1969, which formed the roots of today’s Furtrans Shipping Group and Furtrans Holding established in 2007
1970’s: In 1970’s M. Faruk Urkmez started in steel & iron trade in old Istanbul city
and the growth in this business became noticeable towards the late 70’s.
1980’s: Furtrans’ involvement in shipping commenced with the placement of orders for 5 new building single deck vessels, the M/V Omer Bey, the M/V Arzu Urkmez, the M/V Ebru Urkmez, the M/V Seferoglu-1 and
the M/V Sualp Urkmez ranging in sizes between 3.000 DWT and
7.500 DWT with construction undertaken by Turkish shipyards.
The construction costs of the above mentioned vessels were partly financed by shareholder’s equity and partly through credit lines provided by Turkish State banks. The Group also received benefits from the government incentive programs available for the shipping industry at the time.
Early 1990’s: Furtrans proceeded to expand it’s fleet with the purchase of the M/V Behice Urkmez in 1991, a 21.500 DWT bulk carrier, built in Japan in 1977 and the M/V Aynur Urkmez in 1992, a 24.000 DWT bulk carrier, built in Japan in 1982.
1994: The second hand market prices peaked, so capitalizing on the strength of the market; Furtrans sold the entire fleet realizing a substantial profit. The cash surpluses generated by the successful S&P trading prompted the Group to embark on a second new building program. Furtrans acquired an uncompleted hull from Romania, which was taken to Turkey for outfitting/completion, resulting in the 16.500 DWT General Cargo Ship M/V Ceren Urkmez.
1995: The company went on to buy a further four bare-hulls from Romania, which were also towed to Turkey for conversion into 585 TEU container vessels (”Kont-Type”), including M/V Kont Miriam, M/V Melfi Toronto (re-named Remo-II), M/V Aynur Urkmez and M/V Beliz Urkmez.
1998: Furtrans commenced construction of four new building container ships (“Box-Type”) named Box Hamburg, Box Istanbul, Box New York and Box Oslo, each having a DWT of 9.868 mt and 799 TEU capacity at Turkish shipyards again by own New Building team, the last of which was delivered in April 2000. On behalf of the respective Owners The Group took also the deliveries of two 3.300 DWT Chemical Tankers from the S. Korean shipyard Nok Bong (the M/T Omer Urkmez and M/T Maks Tanker), the former having been sold to Turkish interest.
1999: In addition to company’s new building program, in 1999 Furtrans completed the retrofitting of the multi-purpose vessel (“MPP”) in Turkey, an 8.900 DWT geared dry-cargo ship (originally built in Romania in 1989) and purchased at auction in Gibraltar, a multi purpose vessel of 19.000 DWT. The latter acquisition was sold in August 2003 to Chinese interests.
2000: Initiated construction of a series of four 9.000 DWT geared single-deckers “Light-Type” at Tuzla. The bare-hulls were purchased from Romania and towed to Turkey for completion under Maltese flag.
2001: M/T Pyla, a 6.750 DWT Chemical Tanker newbuilding was completed at Tuzla, in April 2001 and M/V Sealight first unit of the Light-Type vessels.
2002: Completed the construction of the remaining of the 9.187DWT Light-type vessels and delivered them to the Owners by maintaining the ship management; M/V Magiclight, M/V Delight (delivered 01/2002) and M/V Kevser (delivered 02/2002). All three vessels were subsequently sold to Turkish local buyers.
A semi-finished 4.700 DWT double hull Chemical/Oil tanker IMO-II type was purchased from Ceksan Shipyard at Tuzla at the beginning of 2002. Upon completion she was sold and delivered to Dutch buyers in May 2003. The vessel was renamed M/T Concorde. At the end of 2002 Furtrans, acquired a semi-finished double-hull Chemical/Oil Tanker of 29.500 DWT (hull no.1434) from Kherson Shipyard, Ukraine. The hull, designed by Kherson Shipyard under the supervision of BV, was towed to ADIK Shipyard at Tuzla in 2003 for completion and outfitting purposes.
Before finalizing the construction, the vessel was sold to Spain Client, to whom she was delivered in August 2004 at Tuzla.
2004: In May, Furtrans arranged the sale of two of the four BOX Type container feeder vessels, namely M/V Box Hamburg and M/V Box New York, to a German KG.
Later in the year, the last two of the BOX type vessels namely M/V Box Istanbul and M/V Box Oslo were also sold to another German KG and delivered to the buyers in September on behalf of their Owners.
In August Furtrans also arranged the sale of M/V Sealight (9.187 DWT - Built 2001 Tuzla), the fourth and last vessel of the Light-type series. In December the two Kont-type container vessels, namely M/V CSAV Andino (ex Kont Miriam, 8,558 DWT-built 1997) and M/V Remo II (8.558 DWT-built 1997) were also arranged for sale..
2005: In February, Furtrans, on behalf of the Owners have arranged the sale of the two remaining Kont-type container vessels, namely M/V Aynur Urkmez (8.585 DWT built 1997) and M/V Beliz Urkmez (8.664 DWT built 1997).
At the end of 2005 Furtrans completed the construction of one of the two 9.370 DWT general cargo/container feeder vessels and delivered it to the Owners by keeping the management. The sistership was to a Marshall Island company owned by Greek interests without keeping the management.
2006: Completed the construction of 41.200 DWT Geared Bulk Carrier namely M/V Furtrans Bulk and took the delivery of the ship as Managers.
In April and May, Furtrans sold two of the IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker new buildings of 8.100 DWT with Hull no’s 188 and 204 to French buyers.
2007: Hull no. 188 was delivered to Buyers in January 2007 and Hull no. 204 was delivered to Buyers in September 2007. In July 2007 Furtrans sold Hull no. 213 – 18.000 DWT IMO II Chemical to Italian Buyers.
2008: Sold the container new building vessel of 1022TEU with Hull no. 207 to KG market by keeping the management.
Sold the IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker new building of 8,100dwt (Hull no 205) to French interests. The vessel is delivered in March 2008.
Completed the construction of FT FOCE IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker new building of 6,000dwt (Hull no 94) and sold it to the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
Completed the construction of REECON WOLF 1022 TEU new building container vessel (Hull no. 208) and sold it to the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
2009:
January: Completed the construction of FT PROCIDA IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker new building of 18,000dwt (Hull no 214) sold it to the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
February: Completed the construction of REECON EMIR 1022 TEU new building Container vessel (Hull no. 209) sold it to the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
September: Completed the construction of FT ALBARO (NB 95) (6.000 DWT IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker) sold it to the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
October: Completed the construction of FT NERVI (NB 216) (8.000 DWT IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker) and FT STURLA (NB 215) (8.000 DWT IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker) sold it to the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
2010:
September: Completed the construction of FT STROMBOLI (NB 219) (18.000 DWT IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker) and sold it to the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
2011:
March: Arranged the sale of M/V Furtrans Bulk to a Greek Buyer
May: Arranged the sale of M/T Maks Tanker to focus on high specs tankers
October: Completed the construction of REECON EMRE 1022 TEU new building Container vessel (Hull no. 210) and REECON WHALE 13.000 DWT container MPP new building and sold them to the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
2012:
February: Completed the construction of FT QUARTO (NB 220)
(18.000 DWT IMO-II type Chemical Oil Tanker) and sold it to
the buyers by maintaining the management of the ship.
March: Scrapped 1985 built M/V Ceren Urkmez in India
Completed the construction of FT QUINTO (NB 217) (7.600 DWT IMO-
II type Chemical Oil Tanker and sold it to the buyers by maintaining
the management of the ship.
