Balkan gateway registers record high
Port of Thessaloniki increases its container throughput. The Thessaloniki Port Authority (THPA) has announced its financial results for financial 2023. The logistics solutions provider for the Balkans and the broader Southeastern, Central and Eastern European regions operates the maritime facility in Thessaloniki and a multi-gateway intermodal network. The port’s record container throughput played a major role in its strong growth in revenues.
The board of directors of the Thessaloniki Port Authority (THPA) announced recently that its consolidated revenues for 2023 increased by about 0.7%, from approximately EUR 85.3 million in 2022 to around EUR 85.9 million in 2023.
The lion’s share, namely EUR 59.8 million, came from operations in the group’s container terminal. It posted significant growth in revenues of more 12%. Cruise and ferry passenger traffic posted growth of more than 31% to EUR 0.9 million, while the gateway’s conventional cargo terminal registered a 21.5% decrease in revenues to EUR 20.2 million. Revenues from THPA’s Bulgarian subsidiary in Sofia stood at insignificant levels.
Regarding the overall group performance there was a net increase in profitability at all of the corporation’s levels. Its gross profits increased by around 1.9%, to EUR 37.6 million; its operating profits (ebitda) improved by 3.4% to approximately EUR 34.1 million and its net profits after taxes grew by 8.9% to EUR 20.3 million. The group’s capital expenditure in 2023 exceeded EUR 9.2 million.
Athanasios Liagkos, the executive chairman of THPA’s board, pointed out that “implementing the THPA’s initiatives and its development plans helps to strengthen the role of the port of Thessaloniki in the global port sector.”
More than EUR 70 million since 2018
Liagkos highlighted the THPA’s investments of more than EUR 71.3 million since 2018, spent on upgrading equipment, infrastructure and services, and on specialisation in the organisation’s human resource unit. This strengthened its partners’ trust and enabled it to pass new milestones.
One indicative example thereof, Liagkos said, was achieving a container throughput of 520,048 teu, the highest ever recorded by the Greek gateway.
On top of this the hub strengthened its extroversion in 2023, with dynamic participation in prestigious national and international exhibitions, and with initiatives to welcome events to Thessaloniki itself, including the 7th Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum and the first Southeast Europe Connectivity Forum.
“More than a port”
Liagkos recently looked to the more distant future too. “We have the vision of becoming more than a port. With our international orientation we aim to engage in new initiatives focusing on development and driven by sustainability in 2024 that promote the wider port community.”
In this context the THPA announced that a firm called ‘Joint Venture Metka-Tekal SA’ has been approved by THPA’s board of directors as the preferred bidder for a project entitled ‘6th Pier, Expansion of the Port Infrastructure’.
The project includes constructing a 513 m quay wall with a handling yard that is 306 m deep. Once this is completed the port will be able to handle ULCVs with the capacity to carry no less than 24,000 teu of freight each.