Ports : Koper – The sea gateway for visegrad countries

 Luka Koper hosted the ambassadors of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The meeting was organized by the Polish ambassador, as Poland currently chairs the Visegrad group of countries with which Luka Koper has close business relations.

“The Port of Koper offers an efficient logistical connection between Central Europe and the Mediterranean and the Far East. Our ambition is to become a central sea gateway for the economies of the Visegrad countries, “emphasized the President of the Management Board of Luka Koper, Mr. Dimitrij Zadel. 

The Port of Koper and the Polish port of Gdynia are two starting points on the European railway corridor AMBER, and at the same time it is the main transport axis within the Three Seas Initiative, stressed Polish Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Krzysztof Olendzki. 

The countries of the Visegrad Group are among the most important hinterland markets of the Port of Koper. In Hungary and Slovakia we have high market shares, especially in the field of intramodality and containers.

In recent years, we have been strengthening our position in the markets of the Czech Republic and Poland. In 2019, we handled a total of 382,000 container units (TEU) for these four countries, which represents more than a third of the annual container throughput in Koper.

In 2009, we handled 120,000 TEU for these countries, which means that traffic has more than tripled in ten years. In addition to containers, cars, iron products, bulk cargo and perishable goods also travel through Koper in the import and export direction.

In 2019, we handled a total of just over 5 million tons of goods for these countries. We also have permanent representative offices in all the mentioned markets.

 On the other hand  ,In the recent days a new Rail-Mounted Gantry has been installed on the sidings of the Container terminal. This new piece of equipment will further increase productivity levels on train operations. The four RMGs can operate on five terminal sidings simultaneously, covering the whole 700 meters of length. We have been using such type of RMGs since 2017.

Koper Container terminal has one of the highest railway modal splits in Europe, with 52 % of the containers transported by train. More than 25 logistic and industrial centers across Central and Eastern Europe are served from Koper. Every day we handle from 24 to 28 trainsets and the new achievement, together with other investments, is bringing the capacity to 32 trains daily.

Each RMG weighs 300 tons and is electrically powered, which allows quiet operation and no direct gas emissions. It is also equipped with advanced crane operator assistance systems for improved safety and comfort.

Press release