Polish OT Logistics takes stake in Croatian port

The purchase gives OT Logistics a 20 percent stake in the Croatian company.

OT Logistics said in a statement that the operating capacity of the port of Rijeka was under-utilised by about 25 percent and that the primary objective of the investment was “fuller use of the potential of the port.”

The current port handling capacity is over 8 million tonnes. Luka Rijeka also has a 49 percent stake in the container terminal in Rijeka.

"The acquisition of shares of Luka Rijeka is the next step in the development of the OT Logistics group and the construction of international transport and logistics group with its range covering the main transport corridors (including the corridor Baltic - Adriatic). The Port of Rijeka is part of connecting the Adriatic sea ports to the southern Baltic, two of which belong to the group of important OT Logistics – the Port of Świnoujście and the OT Port of Gdynia," the company said in a statement.

OT Logistics said it also does not preclude further increasing its involvement in Luka Rijeka in the long term.

This is another acquisition along the Adriatic - Baltic transport corridor. In May, Polish company PKP Cargo signed an agreement on strategic cooperation with the Croatian national freight carrier HZ Cargo, giving it access to the ports of Rijeka and Ploce. In June PKP Cargo finalised the purchase of 80 percent in the Czech carrier AWT, which in addition to the Czech Republic also operates extensively in the markets of Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia.

“We want to create a transport corridor between the Baltic and the Adriatic…and we want to be the first and benefit from the unique position of Poland. In transport to the south we have to date been at the mercy of middlemen who arbitrarily dictated prices. With AWT this problem disappears and in addition we will benefit from synergies,” Adam Purwin, CEO of PKP Cargo said in June. (jh/rk)