The container quayside at the southern end of Pier I in the Port of Koper has been extended by 100 metres.
The extended quayside with a new berth, which is named Link 7D, is part of a large investment as the Port of Koper continues to build a container storage area of almost 25,000m² in the quayside’s hinterland.
Construction is taking place offshore, so the entire structure is supported by steel piles. There will be 770 piles in total, with an average length of 65 metres.
The new storage areas are expected to be ready in the first quarter of next year. With the completion of the storage areas construction, the annual capacity of the container terminal will be 1.5 million TEU.
The total investment is worth €45.6 million (US$54.5 million) and is part of the funding that was obtained from the European NAPA4CORE project.
“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 Link 7D, is only the beginning,” commented CEO of the Port of Koper, Dimitrij Zadel.
Given that half of all containers handled in Koper today, approximately 1 million TEU, already travel by rail, 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, according to an announcement.
The 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 said that the ministry would strongly support the development projects of the Port of Koper, as this would also speed up the development of Slovenian logistics.
Port of Koper has also ordered two new Super-post-Panamax container cranes, which will arrive at the end of next year.
In addition, after 2022, the port will start building 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,” noted Uroš Ilić, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the company.
