The Port of Koper boasts the handling of almost all car makes and a prestigious German manufacturer has chosen Luka Koper to export its vehicles to the Far East. Despite the currently unstable situation in the global automotive market, it is only a matter of time before car sales increase again. Keeping this in mind, the Port of Koper is accelerating activities aimed at increasing storage capacities. As a matter of fact, the northeast part of the Port of Koper is the only one that does not have railway access yet. Most of the cars, over 700,000 annually, are stored here. The new group of tracks currently under construction will make it easier and faster to load and unload cars from the wagons and the new rail access will shorten the car transport routes from the ship to the car parks and to other loading points. In addition, the new tracks will increased productivity and safety and will allow the arrival of longer train compositions. The investment will be completed in early 2020.

A new mooring is under construction and the building of a new garage is underway

In Basin III, not far from the new group of tracks, a new ro-ro berth adapted for car-carriers is already growing. The berth consists of individual buffers on which ships can lean and of concrete driving ramps. The surrounding seabed will also need to be dredged. The new mooring will shorten the transport routes and free up the existing moorings where ships with other cargoes can be moored. Work is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020. Both the new mooring and the train tracks are among the investments being co-financed by the EU CarEsmatic project.

Considering that cars occupy plenty of space within the port, the only logical solution has been to build a new garage right next to the existing one. The construction of the new one with a capacity of 6,000 parking spaces started last autumn and will be completed within one year. With the new garage, the Port of Koper will meet the growing demand of customers for covered storage areas while increasing storage capacity and improving its internal car-throughput logistics.

A nearly 100-metre longer quayside 

The test pile-driving that started in July marked the beginning of construction work on the port's most important infrastructure project, the Pier I extension. Considering the growing trend of containerization on a global scale, the pier is of vital importance to the port. Nowadays, ports mostly compete in the sphere of container throughput and the Port of Koper, where throughput is approaching one million TEUs, has been at the very top of the northern Adriatic ports since 2010.

 

 

Photo 1: A new berth for car carriers is growing at the edge of Basin III.

 

Photo 2: Construction of train tracks all the way to the car-storage areas.  

Photo 3: The new quayside in the Container Terminal will rest on 134 steel piles.