I would like to say that we are also an important base in Europe for new shipbuilding.
Turkish Shipbuilders’ Association (GISBIR) is one of the oldest non-governmental organizations in Turkey and have been established in 1971 to represent the Turkish shipbuilding sector. Over the course of nearly 50 years, the association has grown to represent almost 100 active members and has to act “as a bridge between the shipyards and the relevant authorities” fostering a spirit of cooperation. GISBIR is a member of the Shipyards & Maritime Equipment Association (SEA Europe) which represents European OEMs and civil/naval shipbuilders, as well as the Active Shipbuilding Experts’ Federation (ASEF) an NGO committed to the promotion and future development of maritime safety and security.
Our key position in the world market stands out when we in addition to our volume in ship and yacht production, add our maintenance and repair activities and military ship projects. With the ships we produced between 2002 and 2008, we became the world's most experienced manufacturer of small chemical tankers. Today, due to changing and evolving market conditions, we have turned to innovative and value-added projects since the 2010s. To date, we have successfully completed and delivered hybrid, all-electric and environmentally friendly projects in this market, many of which are first in their class worldwide. In line with the developments and changing requirements in the world, I would like to say that our Turkish shipbuilding industry mainly exports battery-powered/hybrid, innovative vessels that meet the Green Agreement targets to EU countries, and many retrofit projects have been carried out for the adaptation of environmental technologies to existing vessels.
Our shipyards mainly continue to build offshore support vessels, fish transport/factory vessels, RoRo vessels, towboats and military vessels. We can proudly say that, as in previous years, we have been among the top 5 in the construction of yachts and mega yachts. In special projects, our customer focus, on-time delivery and execution quality ensure that we are the reason for preference and strengthen our position. As our shipyards building vessels for Norwegian shipowners proved their quality in this field, orders from Norway began to follow. These shipyards, all members of GISBIR, are now indispensable manufacturers for Russian and Norwegian shipowners and operators. We see autonomous systems being deployed on Norwegian vessels and they have added hybrid and electrically powered vessels to their fleets. With the experience in implementing these systems, our shipyards are securing future order intake. We follow these good developments with pleasure and pride on behalf of our country.
We build for abroad, we also have innovative projects for our own needs that will set an example to the world. GİSAŞ POWER, commissioned by GİSAŞ, which provides pilotage and towboat services in Tuzla, the largest shipyard region in Turkey, and whose design and construction was carried out by Turkish engineers, operates with zero emissions, is silent, requires no fuel or lubrication, is rechargeable, and with its "new design" is fully electric, representing "Generation Green Technology." GİSAŞ has begun work on building towboats that operate on the principle of "decarbonization" by converting all the towboats in its fleet to electric and emission-free, such as the ZEETUG-30, thereby reducing carbon density (CO2/kWh ) per kWh generated. GİSAŞ POWER is an all-electric vessel that has been serving our yards in Tuzla Bay for a year, saving 210 tons of CO2 emissions and 9 tons of NOX emissions per year. Our goal is to fully decarbonize our Tuzla Bay with zero emission towboats and set an example to the world.
I would like to say that we are also an important base in Europe for new shipbuilding. The pandemic led to a decline in new orders on a global scale due to trade uncertainties for the future, and the serious downturn in the tourism sector and the near standstill in demand for cruise ships caused considerable uncertainty about the coming years at European shipyards. Although there is some slowdown, our workforce maintains its continuity and existing repair activities, retrofits and newbuilds continue. I can say that we are in a better position than many countries in this respect. In addition to the maintenance, repair and modification services we provide to vessels, most of which belong to our foreign customers, we have done serious work in this field with more than 350 + ballast water treatment systems and 150+ scrubber systems.
When it comes to the innovations demanded by environmental policy, we see that innovation is an issue that cannot be ignored. Studies on more environmentally friendly fuel models and integration systems of these fuels in ships are increasing. In recent years, we have observed that the markets for innovative and environmentally friendly ships have shifted from Europe to China, in addition to merchant ships. Compared to different countries and shipbuilding economies that have made trademarks in certain limited areas, Turkish shipbuilding industry is very diverse at this time and has made an important breakthrough in innovative shipbuilding as well as medium tonnage commercial ships in recent years, which has been demanded since the early 2000s. We can easily predict that it will continue to receive orders in this field.