ICTSI wins Rijeka port concession

ICTSI and Croatia-based Luka Rijeka signed a thirty-year strategic partnership for the management of the Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT), a unit of LR and the existing terminal operator of the Bradjica Container Terminal in Rijeka.

As part of the transaction, ICTSI purchased 51% of the shareholding of the AGCT for €15 million.

The AGCT is ICTSI’s first venture into Croatia, and the largest Philippine investment in Southeast and Central Europe.

AGCT plans to invest more than €70 million during the initial phase of the concession. Key investments include new super post Panamax quay cranes, high-density RTGs and other mobile handling equipment, comprehensive vessel operations and container terminal management systems, state-of-the-art automated gates, and leading security systems.

Bradjica Container Terminal, which will be named Adriatic Gate Container Terminal, is undergoing an intensive modernisation program under the Rijeka Gateway Project. The project aims to improve the port’s competitiveness and link Rijeka and the Balkan region to international transport corridors.

The project includes the extension of the terminal’s south quay to 330 metres and dredging of its draft to 14.5 metres. The terminal’s container yard is being expanded to an annual capacity of 600,000 TEU.

Aside from serving Croatian trade, the terminal is being primed to be the trading gateway for Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, south Poland, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, all of which are natural hinterlands of the Port of Rijeka. The port city is also the nearest port to the emerging economic centres of Central Europe: the capital cities of Zagreb (Croatia), Budapest (Hungary) and Belgrade (Serbia).