STA, 11 January 2020 - The port operator Luka Koper generated EUR 206 million in net sales revenue in 2020, which is 8% less than in 2019. Cargo transshipment was down by 14% to 19.5 million tonnes, shows the company's preliminary and unaudited report, published on Monday.

"The reason for revenue dropping at a smaller rate than transshipment is better operations in additional services, filling and emptying of containers and in higher revenue from storage charge in certain segments," the company said.

The operator of Slovenia's sole maritime port in Koper added that it had felt the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but that transshipment of containers as a strategic group of goods had nevertheless remained stable.

Transshipment of general cargo was down by 26% to 954,807 tonnes, of containers by 2% to 9.27 million tonnes, of cars by 10% to 998,201 tonnes, of liquid cargo by 23% to 3.32 million tonnes and of bulk cargo by 25% to 19.52 million tonnes.

A total of 945,007 container units were transshipped in Koper last year, which is 1% less than in 2019, and the number of transshipped cars dropped by 13% to 617,157.

The impact of the pandemic is direct when it comes to liquid cargo, as the sales of petroleum products dropped, in particular in the aviation industry, the company said.

It added that the drop in car production had affected the entire supply chain, and that it showed in transshipment of general cargo, including steel products, and in the terminal for bulk cargo, where raw material for steel industry is transshipped.

A part of the decline in transshipment of bulk cargo is attributed to the general drop in the use of thermal coal as a consequence of the increasing taxes on greenhouse gas emissions.

In car transshipment, a positive trend was recorded in the second half of 2020 on the account of exports of cars to the Far East, which is why the drop was much smaller than in other comparable European ports, Luka Koper said.

STA, 25 August 2020 - Net profit at port operator Luka Koper declined by 40% year-on-year to EUR 15 million in the first six months of 2020, as net revenue was down 11% to EUR 107 million. All cargo categories were affected by the slowdown in trade, shows the company's interim report released on Tuesday.

Pre-tax profit (EBIT), at EUR 17 million, was down 42% compared to the same period last year and profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 29% to EUR 31 million.

While the crucial container segment fared reasonably well, declining by 4% in tonnage and TEU terms, sharp declines in throughput were recorded in other cargo categories.

Dry and bulk cargoes were down by 26%, liquid cargoes by 14%, cars by 18% and general cargoes, which account for the smallest share of overall cargo volumes, by 32%.

Total transshipment, expressed in tonnes, declined by 15% to 10.1 million tonnes.

The figures show the coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on world trade, but North Adriatic ports were actually not among the worst affected, the company said.

In the container segment, Koper and the neighbouring ports were not confronted with shipping line cancellations that the northern European ports had to face.

In the car segment, Koper even overtook both Spanish ports which are comparable to Koper in terms of cars volumes, CEO Dimitrij Zadel was quoted as saying.

Zadel said it was difficult to predict the end-year figures but the company was "taking measures to ensure access to a sufficient amount of liquid assets to overcome these impacts".

STA, 17 April 2020 - Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec has approved a 50% reduction in port fees for Luka Koper, the operator of Slovenia's only seaport. Talking to the press as he visited the port on Friday, Vrtovec said that this "discount" would remain in place until September and would be extended if necessary.

The goal is to preserve the port's competitive edge in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, with CEO Dimitrij Zadel expressing satisfaction with the move. Vrtovec believes the reduction in fees will attract international shipping companies.

Zadel said that similar measures to increase the competitive edge had also been introduced at other ports and that this brought the Koper port on par with others. Vrtovec also praised the company for taking adequate precautionary measures, as none of its workers had tested positive for Covid-19.

Moreover, the ministry will also approve subsidies for railway transport in short, similar to other countries, said Vrtovec.

The minister also commented on the construction of a second rail track to the port, confirming that the ministry was looking into the possibility of folding 2TDK, a special vehicle company established for the construction and management of the new track, into Slovenske Železnice, the national railway operator.

However, a definitive answer to this will be possible only after analyses are performed and Slovenske Železnice and other key players are consulted, in about a month or two.

Vrtovec dismissed information that Hungary may join the second track project, saying no talks were taking place, but he underlined the importance of countries in the hinterland for the development of Luka Koper.

In terms of the coronavirus epidemic measures, Vrtovec would not say when public transport may be relaunched. He said however that the government may decide as early as today that vehicle inspection services reopen on Monday.

STA, 28 February 2020 - Luka Koper, the operator of Slovenia's sole maritime port, saw a group net profit plunge by 32% to EUR 40.4 million in 2019 due to a slowdown of global trade. Revenue remained broadly flat at EUR 228.7 million, six percent below plans, the company said on Friday.

Profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by over a quarter to EUR 73.1 million and operating profit (EBIT), at EUR 45.3 million, was 35% lower than in the year before.

The volume of cargo shipments declined across the board, with general cargoes and dry bulk hit particularly hard: the former dropped by 16% and the latter by 17%.

Containers, a major category, saw a small drop in terms of tonnage, but measured by unit (TEU), the transhipment declined by 3%. Cars, another major category, saw a 4% drop.

Liquid cargoes are the only category in which the port registered an improvement, with tonnage increasing by 12%.

The company said that the second half of 2019 had been marked by the cooling of the global economy, in particular the automotive industry, electronics and the production of iron products.

Nevertheless, the bottom line is still 5% above the projections.

In line with the expectations, the results were affected by the implementation of a new business model for port services and the levy on transhipment for the construction of a new Koper-Divača railway.

The return on equity was at 10%, 6.1 percentage points down from 2018 but still 0.4 percentage points above plans.

The figures were also affected by the receipts in damages compensation for a crane to the tune of EUR 9.3 million in 2018 and EUR 0.4 million in 2019.

Going forward, the company will face the challenge of the coronavirus outbreak. CEO Dimitrij Zadel has recently said that the company is yet to feel the impact of restrictions in China.

Zadel would not speculate about expected decline in throughput yet, but he did say that transhipment of goods from China represented 30% of the port's total transhipment.

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STA, 24 February 2020 - The novel coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak has so far had no profound effect on Slovenia's economy, but problems have arisen in certain areas. Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said on Monday that the government was deliberating mitigation measures, such as subsidies to compensate for shorter working time.

The minister pointed out though that any measures to protect public health must not interrupt the flow of goods because the country's exports depended on that.

After meeting several CEOs whose companies have been feeling the consequences of the outbreak, Počivalšek said that the ministry had been keeping track of the situation and its effect on the economy since the start.

He said the situation in Slovenia had been under control so far, but since the country had no influence on future global developments, it needed to be ready to deal with potential challenges.

Despite no major effects being determined so far, the ministry has decided to act in prevention and consider a future strategy in cooperation with economy representatives. Počivalšek intends to present potential measures at the government session on Thursday.

Problems have so far been detected mainly in tourism and logistics while a drop in sales and orders has been recorded in manufacturing, which could lead to a slowdown in production. The government is considering introducing subsidies for those waiting for work to help the affected companies and avoid lay-offs.

Slovenia introduced this measure a decade ago during the economic crisis and Počivalšek said he hoped it would not need to be introduced again.

Closing the borders would be the country's last resort, he stressed.

Slovenia's tourism has been worst hit by the outbreak of the coronavirus - mostly due to travel cancellations of Asian tourists. The situation could be exacerbated by the virus spreading to neighbouring countries.

Last year, 160,00 Chinese tourists visited Slovenia, while Italy is a key market, with 600,000 guests visiting Slovenia a year.

The Slovenian Tourist Board will step up its promotion efforts in nearby countries and it is also hoping to get EU funds for this purpose.

Meanwhile, the Chinese-owned household appliances maker Gorenje said that the situation was under control, but there was some disruption in supplies in China.

Port operator Luka Koper expects to feel the effects of coronavirus in the next two weeks, with its transshipment from or to China accounting for 30% of its total transshipment.

All our stories on cornonavirus and Slovenia are here

STA, 9 January 2020 - Luka Koper, the operator of Slovenia's only seaport, generated EUR 224.5 million in net sales revenue last year, a 1% uptick compared to the previous year, preliminary data show. Meanwhile, ship-to-ship transshipment dropped by 5% over 2018 to 22.8 million tonnes, the group announced on the website of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Container transshipment stayed level over 2018, while liquid cargo transshipment increased by 12%. On the other hand, bulk cargo transshipment decreased by 17%, vehicle transshipment by 4% and general cargo transshipment by 16%.

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 Luka Koper said that liquid cargo transshipment was record-high in 2019, mainly due to favourable trends in fuel transport and sufficient terminal capacities.

The second half of 2019 was marked by economic cooling, which affected Luka Koper's operations as well, most notably in goods transshipment. Apart from manufacturing slowdown, the situation was made more precarious by trade wars and political conflicts overseas.

All our stories about Luka Koper are here

STA, 15 October - Yusen Logistics, a Japanese supply chain logistics company, opened on Friday its subsidiary in the coastal town of Koper, thus becoming the first Japanese freight forwarder in Slovenia. The launch is an important step for the port operator Luka Koper as well since it promotes the transport route via Koper.

 The first Japanese logistics subsidiary in Slovenia will also help popularise Slovenia's sole maritime port among Japanese logistics providers, who still prefer the ports in northern Europe.

Yusen Logistics, employing more than 24,000 workers and managing a global network of subsidiaries, has been so far providing services for Slovenia from their Budapest division, said Luka Koper.

The opening was attended by Luka Koper CEO Dimitrij Zadel as well as Takeshi Kondo, chief regional officer of Europe region at Yusen Logistics, and Japanese Ambassador to Slovenia Masaharu Yoshida.

Japan is one of Luka Koper's priority target markets overseas, particularly in terms of containers and vehicles, said the operator.

Last year, Luka Koper transshipped from or to Japan almost half a million tonnes of goods, including about 40,000 vehicles and 27,000 container units.

The operator pointed out that Japanese companies also owned industrial plants in other Asian countries, which transshipped even larger amounts of goods through the Slovenian port, highlighting that the move would help further tap into the potential of the Japanese market.

Luka Koper also drew attention to last year's merger of three Japanese container shipping lines into a single business - the Ocean Network Express (ONE), which ranks sixth in terms of global ranking by vessel capacity.

ONE is not coming to Koper with its own direct shipping line, but it will operate as part of the Intra Mediterranean service, said Luka Koper, adding that setting up a direct commercial maritime link with Japan would definitely vastly increase transshipment business.

Referring to a milestone trade agreement between the EU and Japan which entered into force in February, Luka Koper said that the deal had opened up new possibilities in trade and service exchanges.

Moreover, in the wake of Brexit, Japan, coming up with an alternative to its plants in the UK, could opt for exporting goods, which would enable Luka Koper to capitalise on its own geo-strategic advantage.

Today's opening is another sign that Japanese companies are increasingly interested in the port of Koper. At the start of August, a delegation from Nagoya, the largest Japanese port in terms of transshipment, visited the port, expressing interest in strengthening the economic cooperation.

All our stories on Japan and Slovenia are here

STA, 30 August 2019 - Port operator Luka Koper posted revenue of EUR 120 million in the first half of the year, up 6% over the same period in 2018. Net profit declined by 28% to EUR 25 million, according to an earnings report released on Friday.

The bulk of the decline in profit is attributed to a damage claim worth over EUR 9 million. Without the one-off charge, profit would have contracted by only 8%, the company said.

The second major reason is an increase in labour costs of EUR 8.4 million due to the hiring of workers that had previously been sourced from port services companies.

The number of employees thus surged by 40% over the year before to 1,662.

At the same time, investments were almost four times higher than in the same period last year, at EUR 16.5 million, with several major investments completed and additional big-ticket items under construction, including a new ro-ro terminal, a parking garage and extension of pier 1.

Volume-wise, the port saw transshipments decline by a percent, as the car business continues to contract and instability in global trade continues, according to the company.

STA, 23 August 2019 - The Koper port placed 80th on this year's list of 900 best connected container ports in the world, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). The port has been listed the highest among all Adriatic Sea container ports since the first such ranking in 2006.

The first place went to the Shanghai port, while the port of Antwerp was the best in Europe, having been placed 6th in the world.

The Unctad ranks ports according to their liner shipping connectivity index, which takes into account the number and frequency rate of their connections with other ports as well as average and maximum vessel sizes.

The higher the index, the easier it is to access a high-capacity global maritime freight transport system and thus effectively participate in international trade.

"The greater the number of destinations and the higher the frequency of connections, the more options clients have in selecting the most optimal logistics solution," said Luka Koper, the operator of Slovenia's sole maritime port.

The Adriatic transport route has been making a name for itself in the past decade, with four north-Adriatic ports transshipping a total of 1.12 million container units in 2009. Last year, the figure rose to 2.47 million, said the operator.

The maritime transport world has acknowledged the advantages of southern European ports, including in servicing middle-European markets.

According to the Unctad's list, the port of Koper is on par with northern-Adriatic ports in terms of their connections, but the Slovenian port surpasses its neighbouring ports when it comes to the number of container units each vessel transships on average.

The Koper port has a 40% share of all container transport in north Adriatic Sea and is the biggest terminal in the region. Luka Koper expects to reach a record number of a million container units transshipped this year.

More details on Unctad’s list can be found here

STA, 2 August 2019 - The operator of Slovenia's sole maritime port of Koper is hosting on Friday a delegation from Nagoya, the largest Japanese port in terms of transshipment, for talks on how to expand cooperation. Koper has no direct commercial maritime link with Japan, while it does cooperate with the Japanese Ocean Network Express (ONE).

The delegation featuring more than 30 representatives of the public and private sectors, the port of Nagoya and the chamber of commerce and industry from the city is in Slovenia before making stops in Italy and Croatia.

Representatives of Luka Koper presented the Japanese with the advantages of the port of Koper and the Adriatic Sea in general.

Japan is a major trade partner to Luka Koper, with last year's transshipment reaching almost half a million tonnes. The bulk of the transshipment are containers and cars, with Japan being one of the largest car producers in the world.

The port of Nagoya is the largest and busiest trading port in Japan, with an annual transshipment of 197 million tonnes, including 2.7 million container units and 1.4 million cars.

Luka Koper chairman Dimitrij Zadel told the press on the sidelines of the visit that efforts were being made to establish a direct link with Japan, noting that the port had been cooperating with ONE as of last year.

Today's presentation was also attended by representatives of Japanese companies which are already present in the region.

Tamas Tanarki of the Hungarian subsidiary of Yusen Logistics said that in the last decade, Japanese investors had started taking the Adriatic route into account and perceiving it as a good solution for their cargo transport.

He sees no much room for the Adriatic ports to compete with the North Sea ports in the near future, but he said it was realistic to expect that trade with these ports could increase by between 10% and 15%.

Tanarki thinks that what is important for the ports in north Adriatic is to agree on cooperation, as Trieste, Koper and Rijeka are only 70 kilometres apart, which is considered as one sole port on the global scale.