Port of Bar: Large Potential for Further Development (Montenegro)

A team of editors of World Maritime News has paid a visit today to one of the major ports of the Adriatic coast, the Port of Bar in Montenegro.

Luka Bar AD rated this year’s business operation as less successful than that recorded last year. The management believes that this will be significantly improved by development of transport infrastructure with the inland part of the region.

Namely, the Port is linked by railways to Serbia, and from Serbia to the countries of the Eastern Europe, making it one of the relevant port structures of the South East Europe.

Considering its strategic position as a bridge between the Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, the Port of Bar will be involved in the analysis of the competitiveness of multi-modal transport as viable alternative to road traffic in a route characterized by the crossing of the EU and non EU countries.

The Port takes part in numerous international projects, such as Ecoport 8 and Ten Ecoport and it boasts of excellent cooperation with the Port of Rijeka in terms of training of personnel.

When speaking about investments, Stanisic Rade, Development Division Engineer of the Port commented: ”An investment of € 4 million in port capacity development included the purchase of Liebherr cranes for loading bulk cargo as well as Caterpillar loaders and a Stihl forklift.”

With respect to future plans, the possibility of receiving Panamax ships to the bulk terminal would open new doors of opportunity for the Port. The structure of the bulk terminal is such that, in case of need, it enables further deepening and dredging so as to reach the necessary depth of 17 meters, the current depth being 14 m.

All of these facts indicate that the Port of Bar has a great potential for further development and new business partnerships.

Over the past five years, the port management was divided into two operators, Luka Bar AD and AD Container Terminal.

The state owns 54% of the Port of Bar AD’s corporate shares, while this percentage is somewhat higher when it comes to AD Container terminal, equaling to 62%.

The Port of Bar disposes of a container terminal, timber terminal, grain terminal, bulk cargo terminal, liquid cargo terminal, Ro-Ro and passenger terminal, along with a general cargo terminal. In addition, a feasibility study on the Port’s capability to receive cruisers is under way.

The most important strategic partner of the Port is Grimaldi, a transporter of Fiat vehicles manufactured in Kragujevac, Serbia, intended for the Mediterranean countries and the U.S. market.

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Dredging Today Staff, May 17, 2013