CMA CGM to set up vehicle port operations at Koper

CMA CGM has signed a declaration for a joint venture with Luka Koper, operator of the Slovenian port of Koper, to manage automotive logistics services on a 27,000 sq.m area of land adjacent to Luka Koper’s operations. The logistics provider is aiming to move finished vehicles from Asia through the facility. 

On October 20, CMA CGM’s CEO Rodolphe Saadé and Nevenka Kržan, head of Luka Koper (pictured), were joined by Slovenia’s prime minister Robert Golob and French president Emmanuel Macron to advance the development of the IMEC trade link. 

CMA CGM said it is consolidating its role in connecting Asia, the Adriatic and central Europe through its maritime services, intermodal solutions and logistics services. The first step will be in establishing dedicated finished vehicle import/export services through its Ceva Logistics division. 

“Building on strong intermodal connectivity combining sea and rail, CMA CGM contributes to the competitiveness of the Port of Koper, particularly in the transport of vehicles to and from Asia, in partnership with leading auto manufacturers,” said the company in a press release. 

CMA CGM said that it will work with the port’s owner Luka Koper to strengthen Slovenia’s role as a sustainable logistics hub in Europe, connecting it with the emerging India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (Imec) and with regional trade flows. Dessupoiu said the joint venture with Luka Koper would target import-export trade between India and Europe as a part of wider Asian volumes but that the company anticipated that import volumes would dominate.

“The new joint venture between Ceva Logistics and the Port of Koper will focus mainly on volumes coming from Asia to Europe via container shipping (Ceva’s Cars in Containers solution), but the intention would also be to include exports from Europe to specific destinations for which ro-ro services are less available,” said Eric Dessupoiu, vice-president for finished vehicle logistics at Ceva.

CMA CGM said the latest development advanced its presence in Slovenia over the last 20 years. That includes two direct weekly maritime container services: the Phoenician Express connecting Asia to the Mediterranean, and the Bora Med service within the Mediterranean basin. CMA CGM’s existing container services from Koper are operated by LNG or methanol-powered vessels with a capacity of 15,000 TEUs, complemented by rail connections to major Central European markets. 

The facilities being developed on the new site include a workshop for pre-delivery inspection, with an area for vehicle containerisation/decontainerisation included in the same building. Dessupoiu said Ceva would work with Luka Koper on a wider industrial solution for trade in cars in containers at the port.

Further details on the scope of activity at the new vehicle processing facility will follow as the project matures. It will increase throughput at Koper port, which last year processed almost 885,000 finished vehicles. 

Luka Koper announced in September this year that it is working on the construction of a €46.7m ($54.6m) multistorey parking facility to accommodate an additional 11,665 finished vehicles. Vehicle processing has also benefitted from investment in a new storage zone referred to as ‘6A’ on the eastern side of the port with capacity for 4,000 vehicle units. A new ro-ro berth is also planned in Basin No.3, with completion expected in 2027. 

Through its CMA Terminals subsidiary, CMA CGM has also just signed a joint venture agreement with port operator Marsa Maroc for a container terminal at the port of Nador West Med on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast. Scheduled to become operational in 2027, the terminal will offer an annual handling capacity of 1.8m TEUs and will serve as a major transshipment hub in the Mediterranean, strengthening Morocco’s integration into global maritime trade routes, according to the logistics provider. 

The company has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabian terminal operator Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) for a potential joint venture which will invest $450m in building a fourth terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port.