Slovenia's sole maritime port has reached a new milestone, becoming the first Adriatic port to throughput one million container units in a year. By the end of the year the Koper port will also become the most important car transshipment gateway in the Mediterranean.

The port missed the one millionth container milestone by fewer than 2,500 container units last year. This year it expects to surpass one million by some 10,000 TEUs.

The port operator, Luka Koper, also expects to have transshipped more than 800,000 cars by the end of the year, which will make it the most important port for cars in the Mediterranean.

Addressing a ceremony marking the one millionth container on 22 December, Infrastructure Minister Bojan Kumer said the ministry was working to have the new rail track between Koper and Divača inland completed a few months earlier than scheduled.

Valued at little below one billion euros, the track is slated to open to traffic at the end of 2026.

The new track, taking a completely new route to the existing railway between Koper and Divača, is to increase the maximum throughput capacity from 94 to 212 trains daily and the transport capacity from the current 14 million to 36.9 million tonnes a year.

The minister promised state support for the port's development, also because Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and other central European countries count on it.

Luka Koper CEO Boštjan Napast said the company was awaiting an expansion or construction of several connecting roads and modernisation and expansion of the railway station in front of the port. "This is crucial to take full advantage of the benefits of the new rail track."

The port's current capacity is some 1.2 million units, and if the railway network is improved this could increase to 1.5 million units in five years.

The nearby Italian port of Trieste could reach the one million TEU milestone next year if its transshipment rises by 15%, said the head of the port's administration, Zeno D'Agostino.