Data show the port situated in the country’s second largest city handled 3.5 million tonnes of goods and 854,000 passengers in 2011 registering a mere 2 percent growth for each of them
TIRANA, Jan. 31 – Already the major transportation hub for Albanian exports, the country’s biggest Durres Port is having its eastern quay reconstructed, which along with passenger terminal in its final stage and the expected deepening of the port’s access channel will allow handling huge-capacity cargo ships, also benefitting Kosovo and neighbouring Macedonia which is mulling over using Durres Port after blockade problems with Greece.
During a recent visit to Durres port, Transport Minister Sokol Olldashi said the new 16,000 m2 quay, a Euro 8 million investment by the Port Authority, is expected to finish by next June.
“Within this season we will complete the reconstruction of quay no. 10 and the passenger terminal. Meanwhile, works for the deepening of the port’s access channel will start soon, enabling the entry of cargo ships with a capacity of 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes,” said Olldashi.
Current reconstruction works in Durres Port, worth Euro 28 million, are being financially supported by the privatization of some port services and the container terminal concession.
Latest data published by the Durres Port Authority show the port suffered a slowdown for 2011 in its two key sectors, the handling of goods and passengers. Data show the port situated in the country’s second largest city handled 3.5 million tonnes of goods and 854,000 passengers in 2011 registering a mere 2 percent growth for each of them.
Commercial ships and ferries can currently anchor at available quays only in 2,200 linear meters, which authorities describe as insufficient for the future of the country’s biggest port, a hub to the Corridor 8 project.
The design project to deepen the port’s basin and its entry has already finished and would require a euro 15 million investment, said Eduard Ndreu, the head of the Durres Port Authority earlier.
The port’s short-term goal is to create duty-free zones in the whole of the port’s areas like the ones in the ferry and containers terminals to allow faster movement of goods at a lower cost.
“This would be the best invitation not only for transport companies from Albania and Kosovo but also foreigners in the Mediterranean space and beyond,” said Ndreu.
Since almost one year, the Durres Port Authority has opened its first representation office in Kosovo capital, Prishtina, in an effort to increase trade exchanges with the neighbouring country following the construction of the new highway considerably cutting distance between the two countries.
Commercial ships from 154 ports from 35 countries all over the world arrived in Durres this year. The Port of Durres is by far the largest commercial port in Albania, transporting on average around 80 per cent of the country’s international ship-borne traffic. The port is currently involved in four main activities, ferry operations, cargo operations, container operations and oil storage operations. Durres Port, owned by the Albanian government, is a core part of the regional transport network in Southeast Europe, and an important centre for international trade and travel. Last summer, it inaugurated a new passenger terminal worth 15.2 million euros.
