Slovenia's Port of Koper seeking traffic, investors

The Port of Koper, which lies on Slovenia's south-western coastline on the Adriatic Sea, will figure high on the agenda of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Borut Pahor, during his three-day visit to India this week.

His diplomatic delegation includes Mr Patrick Vlacic, the Minister of Transport, and Dr Gregor Veselko, President of the Management Board and CEO of Luka Koper (the port's Slovenian name).

The country is keen to attract investments for expansion of the port as well as explore opportunities with Indian logistics companies and ports for cargo tie-ups.

It is highlighting the advantages Slovenia's only port offers over northern European ports such as Rotterdam and Bremen, which are currently more popular.

For one, Koper is situated in the centre of Europe, at the junction of the international trade routes, and serves as a key logistics and distribution centre for cargo to central and eastern Europe.

Second, it is 2000 nautical miles shorter from the Far East and India to Europe, and can cut short the voyage by 6 to 8 days. Third, land routes to the main central European market centres are less than 24 hours from the port, and also about 500 km shorter.

COLOURFUL HISTORY

Port of Koper was originally an island connected by a causeway to the mainland in 1825 and was called Port of Koper Capris by the Romans from the 3rd century BC to the 6th century AD. Later, from 1797 until 1813, during the time of Napoleon, France had control over it. It later became part of the Austrian Empire until 1918, and after World War I, belonged to Italy.

After the end of World War II until 1954 it became part of Yugoslavia, of which Slovenia was also a part.

When Slovenia became independent in 1991, the Yugoslav army left the Port of Koper, with a monument commemorating the event that stands there even today.

By 2004 Luka Koper had gained the status of a border inspection post for goods being ferried to the European Union. Its coal and iron ore terminal was also completed and named the European Energy Terminal.

Meanwhile, in 1996, Luka Koper D.D. became the port authority for the port and a public limited company, with its shares listed on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. However, 51 per cent equity of the port remains with the Republic of Slovenia, while the public, legal entities, municipalities, brokerage companies and banks hold the remaining 49 per cent.

Today, Port of Koper is equipped with eleven specialised terminals for handling a variety of goods such as fruits and vegetables, livestock, containers, cars & RO-RO, timber, dry bulks, ores and coal, liquid cargo, alumina, cereals and general cargo such as coffee, cacao, metals, non-metals, iron, paper, wood and other products.

Each terminal offers special warehouse facilities, including silos, shore-tanks, air-conditioned and deep-freezing storage areas. “Apart from crude oil and LNG, the port handles every cargo,” said Mr Vlacic, during a meeting with Indian journalists invited to Slovenia ahead of its Prime Minister's visit here.

DEVELOPMENT PLANS

However, what is bringing the Port of Koper to India, apart from expanding business, is its ambitious development plan.

This would include a new entrance at the Port of Koper for cargo traffic, with an added truck terminal, and storage buildings for cars to achieve covered space for 100,000 cars.

The Pier I will be expanded to include two post-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes with a capacity to handle 600 thousand TEUs of containerised cargo. A new container terminal — Pier III — will also be added later, with two post-Panamax cranes that will increase the port's capacity to handle one million TEUs of containerised cargo per year.

At Pier II, Luka Koper plans to add a new modern warehouse for dry and liquid bulk cargoes, new tanks for oil derivatives, and a new berth and warehouse for steel products.

LOOKING FOR FUNDS

It is for these massive expansion plans that Slovenia needs investment of around 300 -400 million euros.

China and the Dubai Port have apparently evinced interest in the project. What is envisaged is a consortia of investors with interest in ports and logistic companies.

“We are on the look out for consortium partners and investors in the project,” said Mr Vlacic. Explaining the advantages of the port, he said that the port would be able to add value to the supply chain and finish the products, which means that they would then become EU products.

According to Invest Slovenia, in 2010 the port handled 15.37 million tonnes of cargo, 17 per cent over the year before. Its operating revenues were over €119 million, up 10 per cent, year-on-year.

While cargo volumes rose across all segments, the biggest increase was in container trans-shipment, which went up 40 per cent to 476,731 units (TEU).

The increase was attributed largely to new direct container lines with East Asia. Vehicles trans-shipment went up by a fifth to 379,250 units, while bulk cargo was up 14 per cent to 6.36 million tonnes.

In liquid and general cargo, the volume increase was only marginal.

Currently, export traffic from the EU to India is around 77,000 tonnes, while import from India is at 34,000 tonnes.

“There is tremendous potential in the cars and container segments and what we are looking at is a direct container line from India's western ports, “said Dr Veselko.

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