CHRISTMAS may be a little way off yet, but everyone's talking about Turkey at Felixstowe port.For the country's the first independent, privately-owned shipping line is the latest to sign a deal with the container terminal, the second piece of goods new in the past few days.

By Richard Cornwell

CHRISTMAS may be a little way off yet, but everyone's talking about Turkey at Felixstowe port.

For the country's the first independent, privately-owned shipping line is the latest to sign a deal with the container terminal, the second piece of goods new in the past few days.

Last week the boxport was able to announce that it had the go-ahead for a £70 million expansion project, and now it is celebrating more new business.

The first vessel for new customer Turkon Line, the Besire Kalkavan, able to carry 1,100 standard-sized boxes, arrived on Sunday.

Turkon Line, which started in 1997, will initially operate a sailing every ten days from Felixstowe – the UK's largest container port – to Turkey, calling at Gemlik, Istanbul, and Izmir.

Richard Pearson, managing director of port owners Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd, said: "We are delighted that Turkon Line has chosen the Port of Felixstowe as its port of call in the UK.

"The new service further enhances the large network of international ports connected to Felixstowe, and enables the port to offer an even greater choice of carriers to UK importers and exporters."

Felixstowe has links with more than 100 ports worldwide and handles more than 2.5 million standard-sized containers every year.