What Mastership does

Mastership (legal name Master Deniz Acenteliği A.Ş., trading as Master Maritime Agencies Co Inc.) is a privately held Turkish ship agency founded in 1986 by Celal Akata and Fedon Findikoglu, both former ship operators. The company delivers a full suite of ship-agency services to vessel owners, operators, and charterers: transit agency for vessel passage through the Turkish Straits (Bosphorus and Dardanelles), port agency across all major Turkish ports and LNG terminals, shipyard agency at the Tuzla and Yalova yards, and husbandry agency covering crew changes, cash delivery, spare parts, bunkers, and medical assistance. The company also owns and operates MV Donau Ekspres II, a 4,500 DWT general cargo vessel, retaining ship-operating capability that informs the core agency business.

Service delivery is anchored by 11 strategically positioned branch offices across Turkey — Istanbul (HQ), Iskenderun, Mersin, Aliaga, Marmara Ereglisi, Gemlik, Izmit, Tuzla, Antalya, Samsun, and Trabzon — all operating 24/7 with professional boarding teams, supplemented by an Istanbul Airport office for crew-change logistics. Approximately 20 vessels are handled daily through the straits. The proprietary IT stack comprises MASTERNET, an integrated agency-operations system harmonizing activity across all branches and distributing structured operational reports to principals by email, and the Daylight Restricted Traffic Circular, a continuously updated real-time service for Turkish Straits daylight-restricted traffic with 10 years of historical waiting-time statistics. The firm is ISO quality-management certified and holds ISM certification for its owned vessel.

The business model is service-fee based, with pricing tied to the Turkish Ministry of Trade's regulated minimum service-fee tariff for ship agents (most recently revised effective 19/10/2023, Official Gazette Issue 32314). GTM is direct enterprise field sales to vessel principals via the office network, with no meaningful traditional marketing spend; brand reputation and founder credibility are the primary commercial levers. Customer segments are horizontal across vessel owners/operators (primary), charterers, shipowners with maintenance needs, and seafarers. No customer logos or revenue figures are publicly disclosed.

Name

Mastership

Legal name

Master Deniz Acenteliği A.Ş.

Website

https://mastership.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Mastership is a privately held Turkish ship agency founded in 1986, providing transit, port, shipyard, and husbandry agency services to vessel owners, operators, and charterers across 11 branch offices covering all major Turkish ports and the Bosphorus/Dardanelles straits.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Maritime Ship Agency Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Water Transportation (4883), Navigational Services to Shipping (488330), Navigational Services to Shipping (48833), Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation (48311)

SIC

Water Transportation (4400), Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744)

akta.pro primary industry

Port Call Clearance & Documentation (Arrival/Departure, Customs/Immigration/Health) (TLAHAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Vessel Husbandry & Crew Services (Crew Change, Meet & Assist, Transport, Shore Passes) (TLAHAJAB), Spare Parts, Ship Chandlery & Logistics to Vessel (TLAHAJAF)

Keywords

• Ship agency services
• Port agency
• Transit agency
• Husbandry services
• Shipyard agency

Headquarters

HQ city

Sisli

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Transit Agency Services: Agency services for vessels transiting the Turkish Straits (Bosphorus and Dardanelles), including navigation assistance, regulatory compliance coordination, and passage facilitation.
2. Port Agency Services: Comprehensive agency services at all major Turkish ports and terminals including LNG terminals. Covers cargo operations, terminal coordination, and operational compliance.
3. Shipyard Agency Services: Specialized agency services for vessels visiting Turkish shipyards in Tuzla and Yalova areas, including technical coordination and custom clearance.
4. Husbandry Agency Services: Vessel husbandry services including crew changes, cash delivery, spare parts, stores supply, bunker coordination, and medical assistance.
5. Vessel Operations: Ownership and operation of owned vessel MV Donau Ekspres II (General Cargo Ship, 4500 DWT), contributing to core agency business.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Mastership is a Turkish ship agency that delivers vessel transit (Bosphorus and Dardanelles), port call, shipyard, and husbandry services to ship owners, operators, and charterers through 11 offices across Turkey, supported by a 24/7 boarding team and proprietary IT systems (MASTERNET, Daylight Restricted Traffic Circular). It also owns and operates a 4500 DWT general cargo vessel (MV Donau Ekspres II). All services are sold to commercial maritime principals on a regulated service-fee basis.

Product overview

Mastership offers a suite of ship agency services organized around six core offerings: Transit Agency (vessel passage through Turkish Straits), Port Agency (all major Turkish ports including LNG terminals), Shipyard Agency (Tuzla and Yalova shipyard services), Husbandry Agency (comprehensive vessel husbandry needs), and Ship Operations (operates MV Donau Ekspres II, 4500 DWT). The service portfolio is supported by proprietary IT infrastructure comprising MASTERNET (integrated operations system), a Daylight Restricted Traffic Circular (real-time restricted vessel list), and internal boarding team software. The company maintains strategically positioned offices at all major Turkish ports providing 24/7 operational support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Transit Agency
• Port Agency Port agency services covering all major Turkish ports and terminals including LNG terminals, providing 24/7 operations, cargo operation efficiency, terminal-specific technical proficiency, and real-time operational regulation updates.
• Shipyard Agency Specialized shipyard agency services for vessels visiting Turkish shipyards in Tuzla and Yalova, including customs clearance, spare parts delivery, and technical coordination. Leverages 20 years of shipbuilding experience including construction of 6 Chemical Tankers and 4 Multi-Purpose Geared Dry Cargo Ships.
• Husbandry Agency Comprehensive husbandry services including cash delivery to master, customs clearance, spare parts and crew mail delivery, stores and supply coordination, bunker and lube oils supply, fresh water supply, underwater inspection, survey coordination, repairs, crew changes, medical assistance, visa applications, and transportation services.
• Ship Operations Ownership and operation of MV Donau Ekspres II, a General Cargo Ship of 4500 DWT. Provides hands-on ship operations experience that informs and strengthens the main agency business.
• MASTERNET (Integrated Agency Operations System) Fully integrated agency operations system that harmonizes activities across all locations and branches, generates comprehensive operational reports, and facilitates structured email distribution to Principals.
• Daylight Restricted Traffic Circular Web-based service providing continuously updated Daylight Restricted Traffic List for Turkish Straits, maintained throughout the day by the Operations Department. Principals can view current waiting tanker lists and records from the previous three days, plus ten-year waiting time statistics. Distributed daily via email.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• GAC Group (Gulf Agency Company): Global ship agency and hub services group with similar port-call, husbandry, and bunkering offerings across a much larger international network; competes for the same principals and charterers when vessels call at Turkish ports.
• Inchcape Shipping Services: One of the world's largest port agents and ship-services providers with overlapping transit and port agency capabilities; long-standing direct competitor for Turkish Straits and Turkish port calls until its integration into GAC.

Broad incumbents

• Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA: Maritime services group combining ship management, port agency, husbandry, and global logistics; overlaps with Mastership on port and husbandry services but serves a far broader portfolio across geographies and segments.
• Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM): Large ship manager offering crew, technical, and vessel-operations services; comparable to Mastership's owned-vessel and ship-operator heritage though at vastly greater fleet scale and with additional ship management as the core.
• Vroon: Dutch-based ship-owning and ship-management group with deep involvement in crew change, husbandry, and technical operations; relevant analogue for ship-operations side of Mastership but operates at much larger fleet scale.
• Maersk (A.P. Moller - Maersk): Global container and logistics integrator with port-call and door-to-door services overlapping Mastership's transit and port agency work; primarily a customer/principal in agency markets rather than a pure agency competitor, but relevant as the largest Turkish Straits customer.
• Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC): World's largest container line and a major consumer of Turkish Straits transit and port-call services; not a direct agency competitor but a key Turkish Straits customer profile that Mastership serves.
• COSCO Shipping: Global Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics conglomerate with significant Turkish Straits transit and port-call volumes; acts primarily as a principal/customerside rather than an agent, but its scale makes it strategically important to ship agencies at the Bosphorus.

Regional players

• Network Shipping & forwarding (Network Logistics Group): Turkish-headquartered ship agency and logistics group competing for port calls at the same Turkish ports; direct regional rival with comparable service lines but broader freight-forwarding and logistics extensions.

Emerging players

• Boluda Towage and Salvage: Maritime services group active in port-call and vessel-assistance work across European and Mediterranean ports; partial overlap with Mastership's port agency and boarding-team operations in selected geographies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/master-maritime-agencies-co-inc

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mastership