TIRANA, April 7 – The country’s biggest port of Durres has increased its handling capacity with a new mobile crane in its container terminal, which since early 2013 has been managed by a private concessionaire.
The DCT concessionaire, led by Turkey’s Kurum also present in Albania with key its steel plant operations in Elbasan, has already been installed and is expected to be made operational in the next few days, says the Durres Port Authority in a statement.
The mobile crane has a maximum capacity of 100 tonnes at 44 metres, which along with the existing crane enables the handling of two container ships simultaneously.
Port authorities say some 128,000 containers are expected to be handled in the terminal this year, a 29 percent increase compared to 2014.
Both passenger numbers and goods handled in Durres Port are reported to have increased by 4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015.
Since February 2015, Gazmend Shalsi has taken over as the new director of the country’s biggest port of Durres, replacing Selim Belortaja who quit to be appointed deputy foreign minister.
The Durres Port Authority, which is the key hub for Albania’s exports and imports, says it handled 3.7 million tonnes of goods in 2014, up only 3 percent compared to 2013, reflecting the slowdown of Albania’s exports last year.
Passenger numbers to and from Durres Port rose by 8 percent to around 775,000.
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.
