Croatia Transportation Profile 2012

25/11/2010  Shipping Report Q4 2010

Een if the harsh economic climate the Croatian ports sector continues to develop, with a number of projects currently being realised. In August 2010 a new container terminal was opened at the port of Ploce, the country's second largest port by container throughput. It will be managed by Luka Ploce, and the initial capacity of the facility, covering almost four hectares, will be 60,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per annum. The total investment in the first phase of the terminal amounted to EUR33.6mn. The port of Ploce has also begun recovering its pre-downturn tonnage levels, with throughput volumes in the first seven months of 2010 increasing from 1.686mn to 2.361mn tonnes, a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 40.02%.

Another major development encompasses construction of a new port in Gazenica in the city of Zadar in the country's Dalmatia region. Building work started in May 2010, and, according to Baird Maritime, Vienna-based Strabag plans to complete construction in 2013. The total cost is estimated at US$302mn and is being backed by German banking group KfW Bankengruppe and the European Investment Bank. We expect cargo handled at two of Croatia's key ports, the port of Rijeka (POR) and the port of Ploce (POP), to grow at a moderate rate this year. In general tonnage terms, POR will stay out in front, with 5.9% growth to 8.66mn tonnes, following a poor 2009 performance when the port was not able to sidestep the effects of the international recession (volumes fell an estimated 34% to 8.18mn tonnes last year). This year total volume at the port of Ploce will experience growth of 8.6% to 3.12mn tonnes. Last year volumes dropped at the port by 44.2% to 2.87mn tonnes.

At the port of Rijeka container throughput will grow 34.12% to 85,921 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) this year, while at the port of Ploce they will be up by 8.85% to 28,225TEUs. The growth of both ports has been consistently positive in recent years, but also closely linked to international shipping fluctuations; last year box throughput at the port of Ploce slumped by a sharp 26.3%, while the estimated fall at the port of Rijeka was 62%.
Affected by the global recession, Croatia's total trade plummeted by an estimated 22.7% in real terms in 2009, and we see a slow 3.3% rebound in 2010, followed by moderate 5.2% growth in 2011. This year imports will grow more strongly than exports in real terms (3.7% compared with 2.9%).
 

Croatia has a good system of roads and railways. It also has airports in Pula, Rijeka, Split, and Zagreb. The country's major seaports are Dubrovnik, Rijeka, Sibenik, and Split.