Container boom in the Port of Koper

Abstract

For the Port of Koper the Central and Eastern European market is very important. The Port of Koper is especially interesting for goods flows relating to the exchange of goods on the East - West route (and vice versa) and bound for the EU, in particular to the catchment area of the North Adriatic ports. The year 2009 was a difficult year for business, especially due to the uncertain international economic situation. In the first nine months of 2010, 16% more goods were handled in the Port of Koper than in the same period in 2009. The container transport especially exploded in tons (45% increase) as well as in container units (40% increase). Within this period they handled 355,000 TEUs (new record) in the container terminal (214,000 TEUs in the same period on the seventh pier in Trieste). The growth of container transport in the Port of Koper as well as the beginning of construction on the new container terminal have made the reconstruction and extension of the current container terminal an absolute priority. The extension is in line with the estimated growth of traffic as well as with the exploitation of present and future terminal capacities. This paper aims to present and analyse: (I) supply chains of the flow of containerised goods through the Port of Koper to/from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe; (II) the changes which enable this boom, current state and strategies to handle even more containers in the future; (iii) market potential, current and future investments in new capacities.