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 US$115 million, was signed by government and local officials as well as the operator of the sole Slovenian commercial port.
Luka Koper has already spent some $115 million for the purchase of land. 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.
Slovenia will be unable to realise its potential in response to the expanding logistics and transport business in Europe without fresh investment in transport, and in particular rail infrastructure.
This is an opportunity for Sezana to become a logistics and distribution centre for entire Central Europe.
Luka Koper decided to join the project because certain types of cargo can be handled on land. The step following 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 fifth pan-European transport route, while the tenth route will connect it with the markets of the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
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.
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