Container quayside extended: new achievement for NAPA4CORE at the Port of Koper

On 23^rd June at the presence of Slovenian Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Jernej Vrtovec, took place the inauguration ceremony of the extended container quayside at the southern end of Pier I at the Port of Koper.

The extended quayside with a new berth, named 7D, has been financed within the NAPA4CORE project as part of a large investment which foresees the completion, by the first quarter of 2022, of a storage area of almost 25,000 m2 in the quayside’s hinterland. Thanks to this huge investment, which is worth €45.6 million, the annual capacity of the container terminal will then be one and a half million TEUs. “The containerisation of goods in world trade has reached unprecedented proportions. Shipowners are building bigger and bigger ships and ports need to adapt to this. Otherwise, we would be out of all major commodity flows. That is why the new acquisition, the new berth 7D, is only the beginning,” said the CEO of Luka Koper, Dimitrij Zadel, emphasising the importance of the investment.

Container-handling activity at Pier I started in 1979, when the first 150 m of quay were built. Since then, including the latest extension, the operational quay has been lengthened four times. Today, the container quay is almost 700 m long, with nine container cranes in operation. Next year, there will be 11. In four decades, the port of Koper handled almost 12 million containers (TEUs) at Pier I, two thirds of them in the last 10 years. In terms of containers handled, the Port of Koper operates the largest container terminal in the Adriatic.

Half of all container handled in Koper today already travel by rail, therefore the future development of the Port of Koper depends to a large extent on the timely construction of an additional rail link to the hinterland. The so-called second track will be operational in 2026, but the country is also modernising other parts of the Slovenian rail network: the Slovenian Minister of Infrastructure, Jernej Vrtovec emphasized that the ministry would do everything in its power to support the development projects of the Port of Koper, as this would also speed up the development of Slovenian logistics.

In the framework of the development plans at the Port of Koper, two new Super-post-Panamax container cranes are expected to be delivered by the end of next year, in addition to the two already there, and after 2022 construction works will start at the northern part of Pier I, which will also be dedicated to containers. “If we take into account that the construction of the second track is worth one billion euros, it is easier to understand the bold and ambitious strategy of Luka Koper to invest half a billion euros by 2025 to take advantage of the increased railway capacities,” said Uroš Ilić, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the company, summarising the strategic business plan.

For more information on the news, please visit Luka Koper web site: https://www.luka-kp.si/eng/news/single/extended-quayside-allows-more-containers-to-be-han-39622

Find the news on the internet:

• https://regionalobala.si/novica/podaljsana-obala-z-novim-priveznim-mestom-luka-koper-bo-na-drugi-tir-pripravljena-foto;
• https://www.24ur.com/novice/slovenija/luka-koper-daljsa-obala-omogoca-vecji-pretovor-kontejnerjev.html;
• https://ekopercapodistria.si/novice/luka-koper-odprla-podaljsan-prvi-pomol-kontejnerskega-terminala/;
• https://siol.net/novice/slovenija/z-daljso-obalo-za-sto-metrov-racunajo-na-vecji-pretovor-555356;
• http://www.informare.it/news/gennews/2021/20210847-Koper-inaugurata-estensione-container-terminal.asp.

Latest project achievements at the Port of Koper

On 25^th May 2021 newly completed infrastructural works were inaugurated at the Port of Koper, among these the new gate for trucks, which was financed within the project Napa4Core. Keynote speaker at the inaugural event was the Slovenian Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Jernej Vrtovec, who set the logistics sector high on the ministry’s priority list: “The more we create conditions for the development of the port, the faster Slovenian logistics will develop. The government has determined a list of 187 important investments for starting the economy after the epidemic, of which 12 projects are in the Port of Koper.”

The investment for the new gate is worth 4.4 million euros, co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union, in the framework of the Napa4Core project. The third entrance for trucks was projected on the model of the already existing Sermin entrance, but with the addiction of an external parking lot for 44 trucks, available for truckers while preparing the documentation for entering the port.

The new gate is already the third entrance to the port and it’s intended to serve mainly container trucks, which represent more than half of the trucks entering the port, counting a total of 330.000 trucks in 2020.

This new infrastructure will improve internal logistics and traffic safety, while relieving the burden on city roads: “Every time the port expands, the city loses something, but the new entrance is a win-win situation, as there will be fewer trucks on the city streets,” said the mayor of Koper, Mr. Aleš Bržan.

For more information on the news, please visit Luka Koper web site: https://www.luka-kp.si/eng/news/single/three-new-investments-inaugurated-today-39356

Napa4Core Steering Committee

On 14th March 2019 the NAPA4CORE Steering Committee was held in Koper, hosted by the project Coordinator, Port of Koper. The meeting, attended by the INEA Project Officer – Mr. Edouard Gatineau, aimed to monitor the state of the art of the activities foreseen and coordinate the next steps concerning the Action.

To this regard, project partners presented to the Project Officer an overview and progresses of the activities carried out, providing a detailed update on the results achieved so far. Furthermore, partners discussed on the upcoming challenges concerning the Action.

Following the meeting, the Project Officer visited both the site of the port of Trieste and the port of Koper in order to verify the progresses of the works co-financed by the NAPA4CORE project. In the port of Koper, the group had the opportunity to make field checks of the completed activities as well as to verify the locations where future activities for NAPA4CORE are foreseen. The attendees saw the trucks 21a,b,c and the RMG trucks at the CT, the truck 18c where cars and containers are loaded/unloaded and in addition to this, they were also able to ascertain what will be the location in which the Bertoki gate and berth 7d will be built or where the berths 7a, 7b and 7 will be reconstructed.
Meanwhile, the project’s promotional campaign carried out by RAM in collaboration with project partners, proceeds: Napa4core will be presented at Munich Transport and Logistics Fair that will be held from 4th to 6th June 2019.

Napa4Core parterns meets at the Ten-t Days 2018 in Ljubljana!

This year’s TEN-T Days had been held on 25-27 April 2015 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The event had attracted around 2000 transport stakeholders to discuss how to achieve smart, sustainable and safe mobility in Europe, relying on the trans-European transport network, as well as investments in transport connectivity.
The North Adriatic ports maritime accessibility and hinterland connections to the Core Network also known as Napa4Core action has been presented in cluster booth together with the AdriUp and CarEsmatic European Projects.
The progresses of the Action have been also presented to the Ms. Violeta Bulc European Commissioner Transport, that kindly visited NAPA4CORE stand.

The project NAPA4CORE is focused on supporting the development of ports of the North Adriatic Ports’ Association (NAPA) as efficient and sustainable entry and exit points for container and Ro-Ro traffics fully integrated with the land infrastructure.

RAM spa, as implementing body of the Italian Ministry of infrastructure and transport has met with the other Italian istitution and the Slovian partners of the Napa4Core project. This project involved the Italian port system Authority of the Oriental Adriatic Sea and the Slovenian Koper Port.
Those ports have known an important growth in the last years both in containership and Ro-Ro traffic and with the help of the Napa4Core action which involved infrastructure works in all the ports the future looks bright for the Adriatic maritime traffic!

Glimpse from the TEN-T days in Ljubljana

In the days from the 25th to the 27th of April 2018 the TEN-T days 20018 took place in Ljubljana.
The event was an opportunity to hear about status of the investments on the TEN-T corridors, about synergies between transport, energy and digital connectivity, but also about investments needed after the 2020 framework. Novelty of this year was the organization of a futuristic lab to allow young European entrepreneurs and companies to showcase innovative mobility solutions.
In parallel to the conference an exhibition of CEF co-financed projects took place, among which there was also NAPA4CORE which was presented on stand no. 19 together with the projects ADRI UP and CARESMATIC, that involve investments in Adriatic ports.

On the picture Commissioner Bulc during her visit to the NAPA4CORE stand together with Mr. Alberto Cozzi from the Port Network Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea and Mr. Matteo Arena from RAM spa.