WATCH: Croatia completes first phase of €600m port transformation

Celebrating the opening of what owner APM Terminals called ’the most modern and technologically advanced container terminal of the Adriatic region’, the building has taken two years, with commercial operations beginning last month.

The inauguration event, which APM Terminals said ’places Croatia on the strategic logistics map’, was attended by Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenković and Danish minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

The Gateway and accompanying railway infrastructure is Croatia’s largest national project, according to APM, which organised the development with partner the ENNA, Group, a Croatian investment company that focuses on renewable energy and logistics. It is one of the fastest growing companies in Croatia.

In the first phase of the Gateway project, 400 metres of quay was built to take 650,000TEU a year. This will be expanded in a second phase to 680 metres of quay to accommodate more than 1 million TEU a year within 10 years.

Four remotely operated ship-to-shore cranes have been installed, 15 rubber-tyred gantry cranes, two rail-mounted gantry cranes, 28 terminal tractors and a remotely controlled centre to coordinate them all.

“The entire terminal is linked via Croatia’s first industrial private 5G network, enabling a high level of safety, efficiency and sustainability,” says APM. “Terminal operations will be guided by the latest technology with full automation and the use of renewable energy, making it the first terminal of its kind in the Adriatic region.”

The terminal is run on electricity and sustainable fuels, the port says, and all waste water is drained and purified before it is released into the sea.

With the necessary transport infrastructure such as roads and a new rail interface, the total cost will be at least €600 million.

Rijeka Gateway is included in the East-West network in the Gemini collaboration between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd on the AE12/SE1 route, making it a key terminal on one of the world’s important shipping routes between Asia and Europe.

”The future terminal will be part of APM Terminal’s global network, while benefiting from ENNA’s deep understanding of the local market in Croatia,” said APM. “The ENNA Group and APM Terminals share the same values and business vision. Together they believe that investing in the Rijeka Gateway will lay the foundations for further growth and sustainability of the port operations and logistics business in Rijeka and in the Republic of Croatia.”

APM Terminals, which is Dutch, operates around 60 terminals in 30 countries.