Lloyd's List: " Prosperity Built On Partnerships"
(01 June 2007)


Suay Umut’s Dünya Denizcilik ve Ticaret, established by him in London more than three decades ago has, in the years since moving back to Istanbul in 1984, continued to underscore its reputation on the international maritime stage thanks to the business it does with the world’s leading operators.

“ The beauty of this is that we have a young fleet and we operate internationally with major companies,” says Mr. Umut. “We employ around 50 people here in Istanbul, mainly masters and engineers and use our own people to assist in construction of new vessels. For instance, 12 staff are in South Korea and seven are working with the Turkish builders.We train our staff here and also send them to BP in London, and we train between 15 and 20 cadets onboard ships each year.”

“This is where relationships are built. This company is part of their lives and we have no problem in finding the right type of person for our ships. People are happy as long as we look after them.” says Mr.Umut whose curriculum vitae shows he went to sea after graduating from the University of Istanbul before working for a petroleum company for seven years and “starting from scratch with a 1,000 dwt vessel in London” in 1973.

Mr. Umut concedes that the tanker business is harder now than it used to be given the sheer volume of paperwork but his answer has been to put a second officer onboard ship. “It’s costly but we have to the keep standards high.”