Completion of new deepwater quay arrangements at the Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT),the Croatian subsidiary of Philippine global port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc., is barely two weeks away with the installation of a new mooring buoy in mid-June.
The construction of a new 628-meter quay in tandem with comprehensive investments from AGCT was funded by the Rijeka Port Authority, the industry portal Port Strategy reported.
Vlado Mezak, executive director, Rijeka Port Authority, was cited by the report as saying in addition to offering the port ability to receive deep-draft mainline vessels, the project has raised overall terminal capacity to 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year.
This should rise to 600,000 TEUs at the beginning of 2015 when construction works on AGCT’s new intermodal yard are completed, Mezak said.
Handling equipment at the terminal has been upgraded with two new post-panamax ship-to-shore gantry cranes, six rubber-tired gantries and two rail-mounted gantries installed to serve the intermodal yard.
The port has also installed a new-generation Navis N4 terminal operating system, the report said.
Mezak said AGCT is completing its development program in a timely manner capitalizing on Croatia’s EU membership and the associated liberalization of the rail sector.
Container traffic had grown robustly in the first quarter of 2014 and is expected to accelerate as cargo shippers and lines tap into the service and cost advantages of using AGCT as a gateway to Central and Southern European markets.
In March 2011, ICTSI and Luka Rijeka d.d. forged a 30-year strategic partnership for the operation, management and development of the Bradjica Container Terminal in the Port of Rijeka, Croatia’s main seaport.
ICTSI Capital BV, a Netherlands-based subsidiary of ICTSI, and Luka Rijeka signed agreements allowing the former to buy 51% Adriatic Gate. The terminal has been renamed to AGCT.
ICTSI said aside from serving the international trade of Croatia, AGCT is being primed to become the international trading gateway for central and southeastern Europe serving Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, south Poland, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, all of which are natural hinterlands of the Port of Rijeka.
