Dredging Already Pays Off for Koper Port

Thanks to the dredged seabed to -14 meters along the quayside of the Container Terminal and because of the latest integrations between global container carriers, the Port of Koper will be directly connected with the Far East by three container lines from January 2015.

In the case of the two newly introduced services (2M and Ocean3) the Port of Koper will be the first port of call in the Adriatic Sea, which is particularly welcome for those shippers looking for the shortest transit time possible:

– Maersk Line and MSC strengthened their cooperation with a vessel-sharing agreement in the 2M alliance, providing a regular weekly connection with Koper. The main advantage is the short transit time from South Korean Port of Busan (27 days) or, for example, the Chinese Port of Chiwan (21 days);

– Another weekly service will be provided by the alliance Ocean3, which includes CMA CGM, UASC and CSCL. The transit time from Busan to Koper is in this case just 26 days;

– Evergreen will continue with the existing weekly service, which includes slots partners MOL, Hanjin, Yang Ming and CSCL. This service is interesting because the rotation includes the Japanese ports of Tokyo and Osaka.

With the arrival of the new direct services, vessels with up to 10.000 TEU capacity will call Koper on regular basis. In the future also larger vessels are expected, therefore the port’s infrastructure and handling equipment needs to be adapted. The Slovenian State is currently providing dredging to -15 meters in the access channel to the Basin 1.

At the beginning of the next year, also Luka Koper will start the dredging works along the Container Terminal. The preparation of the documentation related to the extension of the Container terminal quay for 100 meters is under progress.

The majority of the planned investments till the year 2020 in the amount of 200 million euros will be focused on container facilities – the annual capacity of the Container Terminal shall increase from present 850.000 TEUs to 1,15 million TEUs.

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Press Release