The amendments to the annex to the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (“The Convention”) were recently ratified by the Council of Ministers and entered into force on 19.03.2018 after being published in the Official Gazette. 

The Ministry of Transport has amended the Turkish Ports Regulation (“Regulation”) and expanded the duties and powers of Harbour Masters in several ways. The Regulation has attracted particular attention given that it purports to fill in the loopholes as to early sale procedure of vessels, under the Turkish Commercial Code (“TCC”) and the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Code (“EBC”).