Koper tackles difficult year
The coronavirus pandemic took its toll in the Adriatic Port of Koper, with a dampening impact on the port's performance in 2020.
The Slovenian port and terminal operator Luka Koper witnessed a maritime throughput of 19.5 million t in 2020 compared to 22.8 million t in 2019 (-14.4%). Nevertheless, the container segment moved only sideways in 2020 with a throughput of 945,000 teu in comparison to 959,000 teu in 2019 (-1.1%).
While the pandemic directly affected the liquid cargo segment due to the reduced consumption of fuels, the decrease in car production resulted in lower volumes of general cargo, mostly steel products, and lowered the throughput of the dry bulk terminal, which is primarily used for transhipment of raw materials for the steel industry.
In the car segment, H2/2020 saw an upturn with more export volumes handled for the Far East. In 2020, more than 617,000 units were processed compared to 706,000 in 2019 (-12.6%). Net revenue from sales went down more moderately by 8% to EUR 206 million. (cd)