Officials Make First Step towards Mega Distribution Hub

Sezana, 26 October

Sezana, a town in southwestern Slovenia which serves as the last rail interchange before the Italian border, is to become home to a European distribution centre. A letter of intent for the project, which some estimates value at EUR 80m, was signed on Thursday by government and local officials as well as the operator of the sole Slovenian commercial port.

Luka Koper has already spent some EUR 15m for the purchase of land, journalists were told after Transport Minister Radovan Zerjav, Mayor of Sezana Davorin Tercon and Luka Koper chairman Robert Cesar signed the document. According to Cesar, Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Janez Podobnik and Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak penned the document earlier. The project aims to attract transport flows to Slovenia as well as provide for future investments in transport infrastructure and justify the ones made so far, Minister Zerjav said.
According to him, Slovenia will be unable to realise its potential in response to the the expanding logistics and transport business in Europe without fresh investment in transport, and in particular rail infrastructure. "This is an opportunity for this area to become a logistics and distribution centre for entire Central Europe," said Zagar. His view was echoed by the boss of Luka Koper, who said the Sezana project was important not only for Slovenia, but for South and East Europe as a whole.
Luka Koper decided to join the project because certain types of cargo can be handled on land, Cesar said. According to him, the step following now will be to commission zoning plans and then develop the plots for the distribution centre, which is to cover an area of 90 hectares.
The hub is to cover a region with a big potential for business. It will be linked with the markets of Hungary, Ukraine and Russia via the 5th pan-European transport route, while the 10th route will connect it with the markets of the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
While he said the required investment funds would be substantial, Cesar expects the hub could mainly attract perishables, container cargo, cars and general cargo.
Luka Koper will use its own funds and loans to build the infrastructure, while it will develop storage and other logistics capacities on the demand of its partners, the port operator said in a press release.

Officials Make First Step towards Mega Distribution Hub

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