Seaport of Koper rigs up a block train to Munich

New rail product to consolidate the position of the port of Koper in southern Germany; Extension of container terminal to be implemented
 
In the Slovenian seaport of Koper, a better connection to the south German economic region is advancing to a key issue in their striving for generation of further growth. This was the statement of Bojan Brank, President Luka Koper d.d., in his speech on the occasion of the 10-years jubilee of the Cargo Center Graz (CCG).
 
However, in his statement the manager emphasised on the significance of Austria for the port. Austria accounts for almost a third of total transhipment volumes – about 17.88 million tonnes in 2012. But he also sees big growth opportunities in southern Germany. To be able to leverage them, the port of Koper has launched a project to establish a regular block train service from/to Munich. Bojan Brank and his partners want to put this project on rail as soon as possible. The successfully established Koper Shuttle to CCG Graz-Werndorf served as a model.
 
What has been decided in the seaport of Koper is the extension of the container terminal with a budget of EUR 78 million until 2018. Construction of additional 100 metres of operational quayside of Pier I shall increase capacity for container throughput to 1 million TEU per year. Current capacity limit is 700,000 TEU. In 2012 Luka Koper handled 570,000 TEU, i.e. one third of the market share of container freight cargo being handled by North Adriatic ports.