Transport in Slovenia - Ports and Harbours

Ports and Harbours

There are three ports on the Slovenian coast. The traffic is mostly international. The major is the Port of Koper, built in 1957. It is a feeder port. It is about 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) closer to destinations east of the Suez than the ports of Northern Europe, and the land transport from Koper by road and by railway to the main industrial centres in Central Europe is approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) shorter than from Northern European ports. It is multimodal and one of the most modern in this part of the world, but its development is hindered by the lack of sufficient depth. From it, there are reliable and regular shipping container lines to all major world ports. The port has been rapidly growing and in 2011, more than 17 million tonnes (16,7 million long tons, 18,7 million short tons) of cargo passed through it. It is the largest Northern Adriatic port in terms of container transport. In 2011, almost 590,000 TEUs passed through it. There is a skewed balance in the direction of trade flows in the Port of Koper where import flows clearly outweigh export flows. The majority of maritime passenger traffic in Slovenia takes place in Koper, where a passenger terminal was completed in 2005. It has recorded about 100,000 passengers in 2011, and has been visited by the largest passenger ships, such as the MS Voyager of the Seas. The two smaller ports used for the international passenger transport are located in Izola and Piran. The Port of Piran is also used for the international transport of salt, whereas the Port of Izola is used for fish disembarkation. Passenger transport in Slovenia takes place mainly with Italy and Croatia. The only shipping company of Slovenia is Splošna plovba. It operates 28 ships with 1,025,000 tonnes of tonnage. It transports freight and is active only in foreign ports.