September 14 (SeeNews) - Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and Croatian privately-held investment group ENNA have begun construction of a 380-million-euro ($408 million) container terminal in Rijeka, Croatia.
The terminal, called Rijeka Gateway, is a joint venture between Maersk, through APM Terminals, and ENNA, through ENNA Logic, and is expected to be operational by 2025, APM Terminals said on Wednesday.
"More than 200 million euro will be invested in the first phase over the next two years, and an additional 180 million euro is planned for the second phase within the next 10 years," APM Terminals said.
This is the largest investment in the history of the port of Rijeka, which will create more than 300 jobs on the terminal itself, it added.
"In addition, Rijeka Gateway will be the first port on the Adriatic with remote-controlled, electrical container cranes, and with a quay depth of 20 metres, we are ready to welcome some of the world's largest container vessels," CEO of Rijeka Gateway Koen Benders was quoted as saying in the press release.
With a 50-year concession period, the terminal on Croatia’s northern Adriatic coast will serve as a main entry point to hinterland countries and markets.
"In the first phase, we will be able to process a total of 650,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) annually, and we expect growth to over a million TEU per year in the next phase. And in the long run, we expect that those numbers will keep on growing," CFO of Rijeka Gateway, Tomislav Zunic, added.
In November 2021, APM Terminals and ENNA Logic signed a concession agreement to design, construct and operate the Rijeka Gateway container terminal.
APM Terminals owns 51% of the project company and ENNA Logic owns the remaining 49%.
Once completed, the terminal will have a 680-metres-long berth, an annual throughput of 1,055,000 TEUs and be able to serve vessels of up to 24,000 TEUs.
Rijeka Gateway will provide new opportunities by significantly reducing transit times to the Adriatic and Central European markets, according to Aymeric Chandavoine, President Europe at A.P. Moller – Maersk.
In July, Maersk, opened its first own multi-customer warehouse in Croatia, boosting its presence in the Adriatic country.
In March, Rijeka Gateway CEO Koen Benders said that the total investments in Croatia by Maersk, Enna Logic and Rijeka Gateway is expected to exceed 480 million euro by 2026.
Rijeka Gateways is currently the biggest project undertaken by ENNA, the Croatian group said on Thursday on its Linkedin profile.
($=0.931 euro)