Gerda Maersk Make Maiden Call at Slovenia's Koper
Slovenia's Luka Koper port welcomed its largest container ship to date, as the 367 metre Gerda Maersk moored on Tuesday, just weeks after completing a long-awaited deepening of its seabed to allow larger ships to dock.
The Gerda Maersk weighing 10,150 TEU - berthed there on Tuesday after another container ship - of China’s Alliance Ocean 3 - weighing 5,668 TEU, arrived in the port two days ago. Koper is currently the largest container port in the northern Adriatic.
"Both alliances chose Koper for the first Adriatic port in their route, which is of utmost importance for partners in need of short transit times for their cargo travelling between Asia and Europe," Luka Koper said.
Vessels of the third new container service - of Taiwan-based Evergreens - are also expected to arrive in Koper.
In early February, Chinese shipping company COSCO started a weekly container service connecting Koper with Greek and Turkish ports. The service, called Adriatic Greece Turkey (AGT) will be served by three container vessels with capacity ranging from 600 to 800 TEU.
The Mediterranean Car-Carrier Line (MCCL) has also announced a weekly Ro-Ro service connecting Koper to the Black Sea with the following rotation: Koper – Piraeus – Derince – Poti – Constanta – Derince – Piraeus – Koper with possibility for inland deliveries to Tbilisi and Baku.
Meanwhile, container-train operator BalticRail reshaped its container block train service from Koper to Wroclaw, Poland, by starting a new container terminal in Wroclaw-Siechnice and added a second weekly train at Ostrava Paskov terminal on its south-bound journey.
