According to the Ship Recyclers' Association of Turkey (Gemisander), the Turkish ship breaking industry reached its 2011 target, achieving 653,000 tons.
Gemisander stated that in 2011 Turkey's ship breaking capacity utilization reached 75 percent for the first time in many years, by breaking 653,000 tons, which marks a significant increase compared to 423,000 tons in 2010 and 298,000 tons in 2009.
According to Gemisander, of the 341 ships broken in 2011, 46 were from Greece, which thus constituted the major ship source for Turkey's ship breaking industry in 2011. Gemisander expects that the Turkish ship breaking industry will continue growing in 2012, in line with the shrinking of the merchant marine fleet of Greece, the world's largest merchant marine fleet, due to the financial crisis in the country.
One of the world's biggest ship breaking yards is located at Aliağa, near Izmir, on Turkey's Aegean coast.