7

The seabed along the container terminal was dredged to a depth of 14 metres to cope with the 13.5 metre draught vessels, the chairman of port operator Luka Koper Dragomir Matić told reporters on Tuesday.

In the next phase, starting at the beginning of next year, the seabed will be dredged to a depth of 15 metres.

The deepening of the basin and the entry channel is designed to enable fully loaded cargo ships to dock at the port after they have until now had to unload part of their cargo at other north Adriatic ports.

The container terminal at the Koper port has recently expanded by more than 6,800 square metres, which Matić says enables the storage of an additional 680 container units.

The port also plans construction of 100 metres of quayside and new rail capacities which should expand the transshipment capacity to one million TEUs by 2020.

A more long-term plan is to further expand Pier 1 north-wards to gain capacities to up to 1.4m TEUs.

Out of the total of EUR 240m planned for investment, half is to be earmarked for the container terminal. The projects are to be financed from own funds as well as by EU funds and loans, according to Matić.

He also mentioned more concrete plans to build a new entry point for lorries, an extension of Pier 2 and the construction of a passenger terminal, which is slated to start in 2015.

Matić again called for the construction of a second rail track between the Divača junction and Koper, citing calculations showing the port would reach the maximum rail transshipment capacity by 2018.