CEO says plans for Rijeka transport route should be stepped up

The arrival of a ship with 163,000 tonnes of iron ore in the Bakar seaport is important for the Rijeka Port company and all those involved in the Rijeka transport route as well as a signal to the government to carry out the plans for the route as soon as possible, company CEO Vedran Devcic told reporters in the northern Adriatic port of Rijeka on Friday.

The Cape Veni ship with the iron ore for Hungarian steel mills sailed out of Tubarao, Brazil in late August and tied in Bakar on Thursday for a seven-day unloading.

The ship is 289 metres long, 45 metres wide and has a draught of 17.5 metres, and is the biggest to tie in Bakar in the last 20 years.

Devcic said the Rijeka Port company's cargo turnover went up 10% in July, a similar figure was made in August and was also expected in September.

The director of transport and logistics at the Hungarian iron and steel company Dunaferr, Vaso Janičić, said a ship similar to the Cape Veni with cargo for Dunaferr could sail into Bakar in October again. He added that long term cooperation was being planned.

Croatian Railways Cargo CEO Ivan Lešković said the company would transport the ore to Hungary within the deadline.

Assistant Transport Minister Capt. Nikola Mendrila said the Rijeka transport route was being revitalised and that the Cape Veni and the next cargo ship "are a test at which we must prove ourselves.". He said the Bakar seaport and the rail had the capacity and the infrastructure to receive and transport such cargo.

Asked about the government's plans for the Rijeka transport route, Mendrila said the existing railroad would be renovated to transport cargo from Zagreb to Rijeka and that a new one would be built.


(Hina)