Career
AsstrA’s representative office in Istanbul opened for business in December 2016. Since then, the team has grown and now includes multiple domestic and international logistics experts. The team has a track record of successfully completed shipments from and to a range of renowned businesses. The office now enjoys an excellent reputation on the Türkish market and serves many regular customers who originally came to AsstrA for help with one-off shipments.
The end of 2020 marked a new milestone for AsstrA Lojistik Türkiye’s expanding service portfolio. At that time, the office received a Freight Forwarders Authorization License (TIO). Holders of this license enjoy the right to provide domestic and international transportation services via road, sea, rail, and air.
AsstrA's core automotive service offerings continue to gain popularity on the Türkish market. From 2016 – 2020, AsstrA Türkiye’s annual turnover from road transport services has grown 20 times to 6 million euros. In every transportation project, Clients are able to track the location of their cargo 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In response to demand from local Customers, the Istanbul office formed dedicated sea and air transportation departments.
Fatma Kara
“Türkiye’s local cargo ports have limitless potential. Our ability to service import and export flows via both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is very attractive to current and future customers. Our goal for the next few years is to continue building and strengthening our maritime transportation service portfolio. We want Türkish companies to turn to us as a trusted local partner,” says Fatma Kara, Head of the Shipping Department at AsstrA Lojistik Türkiye.
Opening the Istanbul office’s aviation department was a natural response to growing demand for air shipments. This demand has been driven mainly by the urgent need for anti-pandemic medical supplies, not last year’s expanding e-commerce market. After opening this dedicated department with a targeted service approach, AsstrA now completes more than 15 air deliveries per month for Türkish Customers.
Abdullah Karabulut
“In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic made a global impact. New solutions have appeared, like transporting cargo in passenger cabins. These schemes are called "preyters" (passenger + cargo ship = passenger ship). Some carriers have even commissioned aircraft with dismantled passenger seats,'' says Abdullah Karabulut, an AsstrA Air Transportation Specialist in Istanbul.
AsstrA is doing more work on the Türkish market every year and growing its local client base accordingly. AsstrA is already serving 240 Türkish companies, up from 20 in 2016. Since its founding, the office’s geographical coverage is 10 times larger and today includes over 100 routes.
To ensure that service quality and customer satisfaction continue to improve, the AsstrA Türkiye team constantly seeks to strengthen relationships with transport partners, of which there are now 250 contractors.
For local customers, the AsstrA team in Istanbul has built of full portfolio air, rail and sea transport services in less than 5 years. The team strives to build efficient logistics solutions that allow clients to focus on planning and implementing long-term development strategies.
Elena Firsova
“To guarantee our Customers one-stop-shop services, we obtained a TIO certificate and are constantly expanding the range of solutions we provide. Our goal is to be a logistics partner who can solve all of our customer's import and export challenges, regardless of transport mode, route, and timing,” adds Elena Firsova, AsstrA Türkiye Region Country Manager and Istanbul Branch Manager.
