Interview with
Božidar
Kalmeta
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Minister of Sea, Transport and Infrastructures of Croatia
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Croatia
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Newsletter n°11
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October 2010
1. How will the Croatian economic development
strategy change after the modernization of the Port of Ploče and
the activation of its first container terminal. In which measure
will it weigh on the domestic development and/or will it mainly
affect the south-eastern regional dimension?
The establishment of the feeder line in March 1999 enabled the
connection of the "Port of Ploce", as well as of some other
Croatian lines, with other hub ports in the Mediterranean sea.
Thus, the port users gained the opportunity to get involved in the
world container traffic. In accordance with this, "Luka Ploce" JSC
undertakes all necessary steps to improve the container terminal
business. This can be seen through the computerisation process and
planned construction of a new, separate and modern terminal. From
1999 - 2008 the container traffic has been constantly increasing.
The construction of the terminal began in 2008 and its capacity in
the first phase will be of 60.000 container units. The funds
invested so far amount to €44,2 millions, of which €15 millions
derive from national funds. The second and the third phase will be
implemented through the concession contract between the Port
Authority and "Luka Ploce" JSC to extend the terminal to the 23
hectares with the annual capacity of half a million container
units.
2. Could you define the relevance of the foreseen
modernization and improvement of rail lanes to Rijeka with the
future development of the Port structures?
Construction/reconstruction of the railway section Koprivnica -
Dugo Selo - Zagreb - Karlovac - Krasica - Rijeka mainly derives
from the development plans to modernize the port facilities in the
broader area of Rijeka, namely in the Kvarner bay. This
particularly refers to the construction of a new railway line
(Zagreb) - Hrvatski Leskovac - Krasica (Rijeka) with a separate
section for the Krk island.
Current plans envisage the enlargement of the Brajdica terminal
to reach the annual capacity of 350 000 TEU. Due to the
impossibility to further extend the Brajdica terminal area, it is
envisaged to build a new container terminal in the western part of
the port (Zagrebačka obala) with an annual capacity of 600.000
TEU.
Since any further extension of this container area will not be
possible, the final solution will be the construction of a new
container port on the Krk island with an annual capacity of
2.500.000 TEU.
Three scenarios are envisaged for the year 2030. For the minimum
scenario the processing of 1.1017.203 TEU per year is envisaged,
whereas for the "middle" scenario it amounts to 1.658.996 TEU and
finally in the maximum scenario it could reach 2.605.659 TEU.
The increase of the trans-shipment of other freight types is
proceeding at a much slower pace. The envisaged total quantity of
trans-shipment of other freight types in 2026 in the minimal
scenario amounts to 11.215.000 tonnes; in the middle to 15.770.000
tonnes and in the maximum scenario to 20.285.000 tonnes. These
figures include trans-shipment of oil in the Omišalj terminal but
exclude the container trans-shipments.
The quantities that will be transported from the port, including
the transport of containers, are determined on the basis of the
above mentioned development plans.
Three basic scenarios have been developed to show the freight
quantity which will be transported by rail and processed in the
port. As for the minimal scenario for the year 2030, 10.762.309
tonnes will be transported by rail and processed in the port; the
middle scenario envisages 18.591.888 tonnes of freight and the most
optimistic scenario predicts 27.728.468 tonnes of freight.
Containers will expectedly be the largest portion of the freight
and it is realistic to foresee that 60% of all containers processed
there will be transported by rail.
The existing railway line Zagreb - Rijeka has the capacity of
6.370.000 net tonnes of freight per year and the capacity increase
along the existing railway, regardless of the investments, is not
considerable. The existing railway is characterized by high
exploitation costs which is in fact yet another reason to plan a
new alignment, that would fulfil the exploitation requirements and
secure its competitiveness.
The latter consideration clearly suggests that the freight
transport from the Rijeka port will determine the construction of a
railway, but it is also obvious that before investing any funds
into the new railway there should be a decision on the construction
of a new port (container terminal) on the island of Krk. The total
capacity of the port of Rijeka, even after the modernisation of
Zagrebačka obala and Brajdica, will not be sufficient to justify
the construction of a very expensive railway from Rijeka to Zagreb
and further to the border with Hungary.
3. Inrecent years Croatia
has pursued a large infrastructure development programme favouring
the motorways extension, with a great direct domestic budget
involvement. Which are the present weak spots that still
characterize the network and what are the foreseen
solutions?
Modernization of the road network in Croatia contributed greatly
to the development of the whole transport network in the region.
The current situation allows us the offering and organizing of
functional and high quality door-to-door services in Croatia.
However, at the same time, our neighbouring countries have not
followed the road network development, which brought about some
weaknesses in the regional transportation services. The railway
network is an important element in the development of a high
quality and competitive transport system, but unfortunately it's
underdeveloped. However, according to the plans, this sector will
represent a priority in the future infrastructural investments.
Furthermore, strategic documents, identify the development of the
intermodality, supporting infrastructure and cargo centres as
development generators of a functional traffic system. Based on the
European Commission's guidelines, and the recognized need for
modernization of logistics and administrative processes, the
computerization of our overall transport system has already
started. The goal is to develop an IT system that would allow us to
plan the travel from origin to destination combining all transport
modes, followed by the electronic cargo tracking and functional
paperless document exchange.
In order to secure full functionality of the motorway network in
Croatia it is necessary to guarantee the continuity with the
European motorway network, which will be achieved once all the
planned motorways are built and made operational.