April 2 (SeeNews) - Slovenian port operator Luka Koper [LJE:LKPG] set a monthly record for container traffic in March, it said.
Koper port's container terminal handled 97,101 TEUs in March, surpassing by far the previous monthly record set exactly three years ago, in March 2018, when slightly more than 92,300 TEUs were serviced, Luka Koper said in a statement on Thursday.
"This is an important milestone, especially in the light of the consequences of the pandemic and the current global situation in logistics sector. The company congratulates all the employees at the Container terminal and involved business partners, whose work justifies the reputation of the most important container terminal in the Adriatic," Dimitrij Zadel, president of the management board of Luka Koper, said.
The growth in container traffic at Koper port will be supported by the Pier I extension project, which is expected to be completed in June, while the construction of the hinterland storage areas is continuing, Luka Koper said.
"This is the most important infrastructure project in the Port of Koper in the last ten years, both from a financial as well as a strategic point of view. It will increase the terminal’s annual capacity to 1.3 million TEUs, and, with additional improvements in the area of work processes, to one and a half million TEUs," Luka Koper board member Metod Podkriznik noted.
Luka Koper's maritime throughput fell to 19.5 million tonnes last year, from 22.8 million tonnes in 2019. Container throughput decreased to 945,007 TEUs in 2020 from 959,356 TEUs in the preceding year.