ICTSI ready to expand Croatia port

MANILA, Philippines — Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. plans to expand the Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT), its subsidiary in Croatia.

The expansion includes a two-phase dredging scheme of 130 meters of quay over berths 1 and 2.

Once completed, AGCT will be the first terminal in the northern Adriatic to be able to berth vessels of up to 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) capacity. 

Complementing these initiatives are new quay cranes with an outreach of at least 24 rows, as part of the berth upgrade and new rubber tired gantries and prime movers introduced on the landside, ICTSI said.

 AGCT is also upgrading on-dock rail terminal to offer an annual capacity of 360,000 TEUs per year. The upgraded rail yard will feature two new rail mounted gantries over four rail lines. 

Total terminal yard capacity is expected to increase to up to 600,000 TEUs per year in line with demand.

AGCT recently welcomed the launch of an intermodal service linking Rijeka to Central European countries.

The new Rijeka Land Sea Express is a weekly vessel service which consists of the regular maritime Piraeus–Rijeka Express Service (PRS), exclusively connecting Rijeka and Piraeus. 

Emmanuel Papagiannakis, AGCT chief executive officer, welcomed the development, which is expected to further improve Rijeka’s position as the Northern Adriatic Gateway for central and southeast Europe.

“We would like to extend our gratitude to all the stakeholders involved for their cooperation and professionalism in this start-up, as well as their continuous support for this project which has strongly positioned Rijeka port and traffic route as the south entrance for Far East to Central Europe trade,” he said. 

Cosco Shipping is the proponent of the new intermodal service.

The Land Sea Express has strengthened Cosco’s position in the existing market.

Overall, Cosco throughput via Rijeka increased by 30 percent since the start of the project.