Serbian Ports Increase Goods Reloading by 10% in 2020 – Containers Reach as far as Chinese Wuhan

Serbian ports increased the quantities of reloaded goods by 10% in 2020, and the Danube Port in Pancevo (Luka Dunav Pancevo), with the reloading amounting to one million tons, activated its potential of trimodal transport in the year of the pandemic. The containers reached as far as Wuhan, China, by rail.

Marko Popovic, the general manager of Dry Port Terminals (DPT), the company that opened the container terminal together with the Danube Port, says for Tanjug that the terminal in Pancevo is the first trimodal terminal in Serbia, with containers being reloaded for water, rail and road transport.

– That opens an additional opportunity for the Serbian market. In the first year, we managed to develop regular rail connections to the Port of Rijeka, which is especially important in the time of the pandemic. In December, the first two trains were sent off from the port to Wuhan, China. This is the first direct connection from Serbia to China, which should enable a service where the transit time is short, 16-18 days, at a competitive price – Popovic says.

He emphasizes that the advantage of rail container transport is that it covers a greater quantity of goods with a considerably shorter transport time.

– The container terminal at the Danube Port has been active for a year. Due to the pandemic, it has effectively worked for six months. With 6,000 handlings in that period, it exceeded the initial expectations, especially in December, when we managed to have over 1,700 handlings. Furthermore, we handled 18 trains, whether pertaining to the export or the import – Popovic says.

He emphasizes that the goal is for the terminal, in addition to the regional ports, such as Rijeka, Koper and Bar, to also be connected with central and western Europe, which is extremely important from the aspect of supply chain stability.

– The aim for the current year is to establish a regular connection with terminals in central and western Europe – Popovic adds.

The commercial director of the Danube Port in Pancevo, Sanja Djurisic, said that the ports in Serbia had managed to increase their reloading activities in the pandemic year of 2020 primarily thanks to the good organization and the timely decisions made by the competent ministry.

She added that the Danube Port had recorded more than a million tons of reloaded goods despite the problems related to the pandemic and the employees getting sick.

– We are very satisfied with our results. On the Serbian level, the exports drastically increased last year. Around 3.5 million tons of corn was exported, of which a total of around 2.5 million tons was exported on the Danube – Djurisic said.

She said that, unlike the road transport, which suffered a lot due to the pandemic, the water transport had managed to overcome all the difficulties with the help of all local institutions and operators.

The Danube Port planned the development of the container terminal with DPT before the pandemic, and during the pandemic the activities were oriented to rail and road transport. Some containers were also transported by water.

– It was a big challenge to start a new business and develop the container terminal during the pandemic. The first trains were sent off in April. We were skeptical as to how things would work during the pandemic, but it turned out that container transport was one of the adequate ways of transporting the goods in the time of the pandemic – Djurisic said.

Pancevo is the only city in Serbia whose port area features four port operators, because, in addition to the Danube Port, there are also the Special Port, NIS and Granexport.

– Together, we generate large quantities of cargo. I believe that this is a very important field and that, as the city and the industry develop, the importance of operators is to increase, so our development activities need to be oriented accordingly – she said and added that the Danube Port planned for the container terminal and the wharf to expand.

DRY PORT TERMINALS DOO BEOGRAD

Luka Dunav Pančevo

NIS a.d. Novi Sad

Granexport a.d. Pančevo

Specijalna Luka d.o.o.

DPT

Danube Port

NIS

Special Port

Granexport

Port of Rijeka

Serbian ports

Marko Popović

trimodal terminal

goods reloading

Sanja Đurišić

pandemic

coronavirus

Covid 19

Wuhan