Durres port handles fewer goods, passengers in early 2014

TIRANA, April 22 – Durres port handled fewer goods and passengers in the first quarter of 2014, the country’s biggest port said in a statement.
Data shows some 760,000 tonnes of goods were handled in Durres Port during the first quarter of the year, down 5 percent compared to the same period last year. Exports from the country’s biggest port dropped by 15 percent year-on-year while imports were up by 4 percent.
Passenger numbers at Durres Port dropped by 5 percent.
The Durres Port saw a double-digit increase in exports in 2013, while imports and passenger traffic from the country’s biggest ports registered a considerable decrease.
Made in Albania exports from Durres Port in 2013 rose by 24 percent to 1.6 million tonnes while imports dropped by 12 percent to 1.9 million tonnes, reflecting the sluggish domestic consumption as Albania’s growth rate decelerated to 0.44 percent in 2013.
Ferries operating in Durres port handled around 717,000 passengers in 2013, down by 10 percent compared to 2012, according to port officials.
The Durres Port, Albania’s biggest, targets becoming a regional hub for landlocked Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia. It has representation offices in Kosovo and Macedonia.
Key operations in Durres port such as the container, and ferry terminals are managed by foreign companies under concession contracts.
Both the passenger traffic and volume of goods handled in Albania’s main four ports registered a slight decline in 2012, reflecting the crisis impacts in the maritime transport, according to data by the Institute of Transport.
The Durres Port, the country’s biggest, handled around three-quarters of the passenger traffic and around 90 percent of imports and exports in 2012.
The three Albanian ports involved in passenger transport, the ports of Durres, Vlora, and Saranda handled 1.1 million passengers in 2012, around 65,000 fewer than in 2011. Since 2011, the Shengjin Port has not been handling passengers, reports the Institute.