TURKEY reportedly said today it might raise fees for transiting the Bosporus to encourage shipowners instead to use its planned Canal Istanbul.
Transport minister Mehmet Habib Soluk told reporters Ankara could rescind present fee discounts to reduce congestion in the Bosporus, which bisects crowded Istanbul, the Associated Press reported.
The proposed new canal would be sited to the west of Silivri in Turkey's Thrace region, just outside Istanbul, Turkey's largest city. It would handle 150-160 ships per day and would take eight years to build for an estimated $10Bn.
Canal Istanbul would link the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara; ships would still need to transit the Dardanelles to reach the Aegean Sea.
The canal woul ...