Didim Marina 2009

Didim hopes to strengthen its position in Turkish tourism with the official opening of a marina Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. The D-Marin Didim Marina can host more than 1,000 yachts and is the second-largest investment by Do?u? D-Marine Enterprises, operating under the Do?u? Marinas Group.

Construction of the marina was completed in 30 months, a very short time for such a big project, Do?u? Group General Coordinator Ali Erkan Bezirgan said before the opening.

“Didim is a place that honors us with its history and has the potential to become a very important tourism center in the near future,” Bezirgan said. “The town will raise the bar with future investments.”

With the new marina, D-Marine Enterprises will raise its market share to 12 percent in Turkey and create 650 jobs.

Didim Mayor Mümin Kamac? of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, said politics should be left aside and everybody in Didim should work together for the town. “We are very happy that this investment has created jobs for the local people,” he added.

Bezirgan said the company would seek ways to help Didim flourish, adding, “We will coordinate with nongovernmental organizations to find methods that will help the town.” The official opening date was scheduled for a day the prime minister could attend in order to get national newspaper and television coverage of the opening, he added. According to Bezirgan, yacht tourists spend more than other visitors.

“The latest trend in yachting is to go to rarely visited places; this gives more chance to Turkey,” he added. “Besides, the rents of the Turkish marinas are about 30 to 35 percent less than those in Europe. This is another important advantage for us.”

Bezirgan said his company’s investment would not end in Didim, but continue with a $100-million marina project in Dalaman that would cater to 1,300 yachts.

Thanks both to its location and its technical substructure features, Didim Marina will constitute an extremely privileged address not only for boats cruising within Turkish territorial waters but also for the boat owners in the entire Mediterranean Basin.

The marina, which has been accepted boats since May, has a concrete-coated 70,000-square-meter dry-dock area with a 600-boat capacity where all kinds of maintenance services and paint work can be carried out. The marina also has a hangar measuring 30 meters by 60 meters in size and boasts Turkey’s highest capacity travel lift – the mechanism used to take boats from the water – at 400 tons. It will include 36 technical workshops, each specializing in a different field.

Boats ranging from eight meters to 50 meters in length will be able to be moored to the marina by means of med-mooring system. The marina has a mooring capacity of 580 boats and will be particularly attractive to owners of boats over 30 meters that face problems in terms of finding a safe mooring place and hoisting capacities.

Didim Marina has been built using a 100 percent environmentally conscious approach that applies to all of its technical substructure and superstructure work. The facility includes advanced systems such as natural seawater circulation pumps, waste-oil collection and bilge stations, as well as stations for the collection of domestic waste and the decomposition of solid waste.

Do?u? Group has also joined Island Global Yachting and Nautical Center Prgin as a development partner in the expansion and renovation of the Mandalina Marina & Yacht Club in the historical town of Sibenik, Croatia in July.

“The Do?u? Group is pleased to enter the Croatian market with such an exciting project and such tremendous partners,” Ferit ?ahenk, chairman of Do?u? Group said in the signing ceremony. “We are actively engaged in similar projects in Turkey and are certain that with the involvement of IGY, NCP and Do?u?, the new Mandalina Marina & Yacht Club will become a showcase destination for the region.”

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