EMS wins Durres concession

The East Terminal, which has two berths with a total length of 430m, is mainly used for minerals and mineral ore, coal, scrap and other goods. EMS APO will take over the new terminal, which has been hampered in the past by inadequate infrastructure, in June 2013.

Manfred Müller, managing director of EMS Shipping & Trading, told Port Strategy: “It’s a 35 year concession agreement with the Minister of Public Works and Transportation in Albania. We’re planning to hire up to 100 people and will invest in infrastructure and equipment like cranes and fork lifts to develop the East Terminal into a modern and cost efficient terminal.”

One of the main projects EMS will carry out will be the deepening of the shipping channel to a draft of 11m to allow the access of ships with up to 55,000 DWT.

EMS APO plans a throughput of more than 1m tonnes per year in the first phase and after completion of the dredging, an increase to more than 2m tonnes per year.

Mr Müller told PS the new terminal will boost the company’s European operations.

“We already own the concession in the harbour of Durres for stevedoring works, which our company Albanian Stevedoring Company operates. We also have offices in Italy and logistics in Albania and Macedonia, but this tender is very important to us as we hope it will help expand our business in that area of Europe,” he explained.

“Strategically, the Port of Durres is in a very good position. We’ve seen a high increase for the whole Balkan area and expect to see throughput increase at the Port of Durres from area and, especially Serbia in the near future,” he added.