Regulation on Pilotage and Towage Services Published

The Regulation on Pilotage and Towage Services (Regulation), which introduces significant changes regarding the provision of pilotage and towage services in Turkey's maritime jurisdiction areas, was published in the Official Gazette dated February 11, 2025 and numbered 32810. This Regulation repeals the previous regulation of the same name, published in the Official Gazette dated January 8, 2020 and numbered 31002.

The Regulation defines regional service areas and includes detailed provisions regarding the transfer, duration, and tendering process of pilotage and towage services. Additionally, it establishes the principles governing the pilotage and towage services that port operating facilities will provide under their service permit certificates. The key provisions of the Regulation can be summarized as follows:

• The Ministry may transfer pilotage and/or towage services in regional service areas for a period not exceeding 20 years. The transfer will be conducted through a tender process using the granting of operational rights method, by Article 1 of the Ports Law No. 618.
• Separate tenders will be conducted for each regional service area and each service.
• A bidder/operator awarded the operational rights for either pilotage or towage services in a regional service area cannot participate in the tender for the other service in the same location.
• The contract signed with the winning bidder cannot be transferred under any circumstances, and the operator cannot use subcontractors to provide these services.
• If the winning bidder at the contract signing stage is a legal entity other than a joint-stock company, a joint venture, or an individual, they must convert into a joint-stock company or establish a joint-stock company where all joint venture members or individuals hold shares within six months.
• Port facilities privatized through the transfer of operational rights method under Law No. 4046 or operated under the Build-Operate-Transfer Model as per Law No. 3996 dated 08.06.1994, as well as standalone port facilities not associated with any regional service areas or port facility clusters, may provide their own pilotage and towage services under a service permit certificate issued by the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
• Administrative fines are foreseen in cases of service disruptions, shortages of pilots, or failure to enter data into the Ministry's system.