Cabotage is the carriage of goods or passengers between two points within a country by a vehicle that is not registered in that country. In Türkiye, Road Transport Law No. 4925 (Karayolu Taşıma Kanunu) prohibits foreign-registered vehicles from carrying out domestic transport. In the EU, only carriers holding a Community licence may perform up to 3 cabotage operations within 7 days after an international trip.
Which transport operations does cabotage cover?
The test for cabotage is whether the loading and unloading points of the cargo lie in the same country. If the vehicle is registered in another country and the cargo is collected in Mersin and unloaded in Ankara, this is domestic transport and counts as cabotage. Any trip that crosses a border, by contrast, is international transport.
The term comes from shipping. In Türkiye, sea transport between ports has been reserved for Turkish-flagged vessels by Cabotage Law No. 815 (Kabotaj Kanunu), which entered into force on 1 July 1926; this is why 1 July is celebrated as Maritime and Cabotage Day (Denizcilik ve Kabotaj Bayramı). This entry deals with road cabotage.
| Type of transport | Example (Turkish-registered truck) | Permit required |
|---|---|---|
| Bilateral transport | Istanbul → Munich | Transit pass for the destination country or a multilateral permit |
| Transit | Türkiye → via Bulgaria → Romania | Transit permit of the country crossed |
| Third-country | Hungary → Austria | Third-country permit or ECMT |
| Cabotage | Lyon → Paris | Not open to Turkish carriers |
Why is cabotage prohibited in Türkiye?
Article 13 of the Law is unambiguous: “Foreign-registered vehicles may not carry out transport between two points within the borders of Türkiye.” The aim is to reserve the domestic transport market for operators that hold an authorisation certificate in Türkiye and pay their taxes and insurance here. Article 60 of the Road Transport Regulation (Karayolu Taşıma Yönetmeliği) repeats the same prohibition and, for violations, provides for an administrative fine of fifty times the lower limit set in Article 26(1)(ı) of the Law. Law No. 7546 set that lower limit at TRY 5,000 in 2025; fifty times this amounts to TRY 250,000, and the amounts may be updated through revaluation. Under a paragraph added in 2023, the fine is notified to the driver and collected, and the vehicle may not leave the country until it is paid.
How do cabotage rules work in the EU?
In the EU, cabotage is not banned outright; it is restricted. Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009, as amended by the Mobility Package, has applied as follows since 21 February 2022:
- Only a carrier holding a Community licence may perform cabotage; if the driver is a third-country national, a driver attestation is required.
- An international carriage must first be completed and the goods unloaded.
- Up to 3 cabotage operations may be carried out within 7 days after that unloading.
- If the vehicle enters another member state empty to perform cabotage there, only 1 operation is allowed in that country, within 3 days of the empty entry.
- The same vehicle may not carry out cabotage again in the same member state until 4 days have passed since its last cabotage operation.
At roadside checks, documents for the incoming international trip and for each cabotage operation are requested; the authorities may also use tachograph data. The cabotage rules form part of the EU Mobility Package, together with the rules on drivers' return home and the vehicle return obligation.
What does this mean for Turkish carriers?
Because Turkish-registered vehicles do not hold a Community licence, they cannot perform cabotage within the EU. A truck that unloads in Europe cannot pick up a new load within the same country; it has to find either a return load to Türkiye or a third-country carriage made under a permit. For third-country trips, bilateral and third-country transit passes or an ECMT permit are used; the ECMT permit does not allow cabotage either. This directly affects the empty-return rate and therefore the freight rate.
Common mistakes
- Adding extra cargo to the vehicle within the same country after a partial unloading in Europe. If the cargo is loaded and unloaded in the same country, the trip counts as cabotage.
- Showing the place of loading on the transport document as an address across the border. If the CMR consignment note and the tachograph records contradict each other, there is a risk of fines and of the vehicle being impounded.
- Using a foreign-registered vehicle that has arrived in Türkiye for an intermediate domestic haul. The shipper also faces problems for having goods carried by an unauthorised vehicle.
In international road transport, where trips on European and CIS routes are planned according to the type of permit, the cabotage restriction is the first check in return-load planning.