Local Turkish firm Safi Kat? Yak?t Sanayi, Ticaret A.Åž. offered the highest bid with an offer of $543 million and won the tender for Derince Port last week in ?zmit. Safi said that the firm is going to invest $300 million in construction in the port and that within five years they plan to have the first phase of the construction finished.

The tender was conducted by the Turkish Privatization Administration (Ö?B).

Y?lport Holding and Kumport Liman Hizmetleri ve Lojistik Sanayi, Ticaret A.Åž. under Fiba Holding were the other bidders in the tender process.

A tender process to concession the Derince Port for 39 years in the Turkish northwestern province of ?zmit was relaunched on 18 April 2014. After several failures, the concession period was extended to increase the potential profitability of the project.

The first tender for the transfer of operating rights of Derince Port was held in 2007, in which Türkerler Joint Venture Group was the highest bidder with US$195.25 million. However, the Council of State cancelled that tender, citing contradiction in the land settlement plan of the area.

The privatization process restarted in October 2013, with Privatization Administration's announcement of receiving offers but the tender process was canceled on 22 January 2014 after bidders failed to meet the price that had been requested by the tender committee.

Derince Port is owned by The General Directorate of the Turkish State Railways Administration (TCDD). TCDD Operation General Directorate is privatizing the port with 39 years of transferring of operation right method.

Derince is a seaport, town and district of Kocaeli Province of Turkey. It is one of the few ports with railway connection in that area, and has the longest rail network within the port. Having one of the biggest storage area in the region, port is widely used for finished vehicle transportation.

Derince Port, which became operational in 1904, has seven docks along a stretch of 1,322 meters and the capacity to handle 10 ships.