Does operating a bonded warehouse require a separate license?

Yes, a separate license from the Ministry of Trade is required; we manage this application for you.

Which goods categories suit this location best?

Food, textiles and construction materials, categories aligned with the region's strong production sectors, are particularly well suited.

Can a foreign investor set up a distribution center here?

Yes, through a company incorporated in Türkiye. We manage the process from incorporation through customs compliance.

Can this operation combine with İskenderun Port logistics?

Yes, combining sea and land border-trade channels diversifies your goods flow and reduces single-route dependency.

Cross-Border Trade & Distribution Center Investment

Proximity to the Cilvegözü border crossing in Reyhanlı gives a distribution center serving Syria and the wider MENA market a strategic position for trading companies.

A trade/distribution point displaying goods

Reyhanlı's Cilvegözü crossing is one of the most active trade points into Syria. A distribution center built close to this location can function as a logistics base for both Turkish product exports into the region and regional products entering the Turkish market.

What Project Types Are Worth Considering?

Regional distribution center
Border-trade consolidation warehouse
Showroom + wholesale distribution center
Distribution center integrated with bonded warehouse services

Which Areas Should You Consider?

Reyhanlı, given its direct proximity to the Cilvegözü crossing, is the primary location. İskenderun offers a complementary distribution point through port access for goods moving by sea.

Licensing and Permit Process

Trade registry filing and tax ID
Customs compliance for import/export activity
Bonded warehouse operating license from the Ministry of Trade, if operating a bonded facility
Business opening and operating license

Incentives and Support

Region 6 incentives apply to border-trade and logistics investments; export-oriented projects can additionally draw on Ministry of Trade export support programs.

See our Investment Incentive Consulting service

What to Keep in Mind

Border-trade regulation can shift over time, so an investment plan for this location should stay flexible against the current regulatory framework and be monitored on an ongoing basis rather than assumed static.

Sources

T.C. Ministry of Trade: Directorate General of Customs

From the official data

Port Cargo and Exports: Official Volumes

According to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Turkish ports handled 553,268,303 tonnes in 2025; the İskenderun Regional Port Authority handled 70,905,737 tonnes, third after Aliağa (89,507,150 tonnes) and Kocaeli (83,939,975 tonnes). In the Ministry of Trade's exports-by-province-of-activity table, Hatay ranked 11th in 2023 with USD 5,170 million.

Indicator	Value	Year	Source
İskenderun Regional Port Authority: cargo handled (tonnes)	70,905,737	2025	[1]
Türkiye total port cargo (tonnes)	553,268,303	2025	[1]
İskenderun's share of the national total	12.8%	2025	[1]
Hatay exports by province of activity (USD million)	5,856	2022	[2]
Hatay exports (USD million; annual change −11.7%)	5,170	2023	[2]
Share of Türkiye's exports (Türkiye: USD 255,809 million)	2.0%	2023	[2]
Hatay exports, single month (USD million; +11.9%)	505 → 565	Sep 2024 → Sep 2025	[3]

What does this data mean for an investor?

The İskenderun Regional Port Authority handles 12.8% of the cargo moved through Turkish ports and trails only Aliağa and Kocaeli. This volume shows that Hatay remained one of the country's main cargo gateways even after the earthquake. Hatay's exports fell 11.7% in 2023 to USD 5,170 million; in September 2025 monthly exports rose +11.9% on the same month of the previous year. A single month does not prove an annual recovery; the annual 2024–2025 figures are not in this compilation.

What it means for an investor: port and export volumes are the most concrete official gauges of the scale of demand for warehousing, bonded areas, logistics centres and export-oriented production. But how much of the port tonnage is cargo produced in or destined for Hatay, as opposed to transit, cannot be separated from these data; cargo type and country breakdowns should be queried separately before investing.

Limitation: The port figure is the sum of all ports under the İskenderun Regional Port Authority and has no cargo-type or country breakdown. The export table is based on place of production (province of activity), which differs from head-office-based tables. Annual provincial exports for 2024 and 2025 (the Ministry's relevant file could not be accessed) and the sector breakdown of exports are not in this compilation; September 2025 is a single-month figure.

Pages related to this data

Sources

Public Transport and Logistics Infrastructure Projects

In the 2026 Investment Programme, transport is Hatay's largest item with 21 projects and TRY 167.5 billion. The main projects are motorways, rail, the airport and port/industrial-zone links.

Indicator	Value	Year	Source
Dörtyol–Hassa motorway and railway (motorway 25 km, single-track rail 35.32 km)	TRY 91.2 billion · 2022–2029	2026	[1]
İskenderun–Topboğazı motorway and Antakya link road (motorway 19.2 km, twin-tube tunnel 8,675 m)	TRY 33.6 billion · 2024–2029	2026	[1]
Hatay–Osmaniye high-speed rail, double track (59 km; joint project)	TRY 33.1 billion · 2026–2029	2026	[1]
Hatay Airport runway/apron (PAT) repair (spent: TRY 14.0 billion)	TRY 16.0 billion · 2023–2026	2026	[1]
Hatay Airport buildings and apron expansion	TRY 1.8 billion · 2025–2027	2026	[1]
İskenderun OSB rail siding (4.5 km)	TRY 223 million · 2020–2027	2026	[1]
Eastern Mediterranean Customs and Foreign Trade Regional Directorate building	TRY 384 million · 2024–2026	2026	[1]

What does this data mean for an investor?

The two large road-rail projects (Dörtyol–Hassa TRY 91.2 billion, İskenderun–Topboğazı TRY 33.6 billion) make up more than half of the programme's transport cost. The Dörtyol–Hassa line links the coast with inland Hassa, and the İskenderun–Topboğazı line connects İskenderun towards Antakya. Their 2026 allocations are TRY 2.0 billion and TRY 4.5 billion, with completion foreseen in 2029.

The 2026 allocation for the Hatay–Osmaniye high-speed rail appears as only TRY 1,000, meaning the project is listed but its cash funding is still symbolic (interpretation). At the airport, TRY 14 billion of the TRY 16 billion runway/apron repair had been spent by the end of 2025. Together these show that logistics decisions should separate “advanced” from “planned” infrastructure.

What it means for an investor: for warehouse, customs, cold-chain and distribution investments, access conditions will change between 2027 and 2029. A decision today should be based on existing roads, with new links modelled separately as potential upside.

Limitation: Completion years are programme projections and may slip. This source covers public projects only; port cargo tonnage, border-gate crossings and private logistics investments are not included and should be tracked in separate official sources (Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Trade, DHMİ).