Port of Koper Expansion Project Faces Delays
A key portion of a major expansion project in the port of Koper, Slovenia’s only commercial seaport, looks like it could be delayed due to problems with the dredging of the seabed.
Photo: Lika Koper
Port operator Luka Koper said on Tuesday it would not renew the contract with the Italian dredging company Costruzioni generali Xodo.
The company was commissioned to dredge the seabed along the container terminal to a depth of 14 metres to allow the port to handle bigger container ships.
But it completed less than a tenth of the work in the designated time, in what Luka Koper said was an “unjustified and drastic delay”.
Luka Koper will now hire a new contractor to complete the works by August since the port expects bigger ships to start docking in autumn.
The news comes after bad spring weather delayed the dredging of the access canal to the container terminal.
Work is now under way there and is set to be completed by February 2015.
The dredging is a part of a EUR 78m expansion project that also involves new storage area, which will increase the port’s current capacity to 980,000 container units (TEUs) from 750,000 per year.
The entire multi-phase project will be completed by 2018.
Rebased GDP attracting more investors – LCCI
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said the recent rebasing of the country’s Gross Domestic Product which makes the economy the largest in Africa, has generated increased interest in the Lagos International Trade Fair.
The rebasing which was done earlier this year, had put the country’s GDP at $510bn, the highest on the continent.
The chamber, in a statement signed by its Vice President and Chairman, Trade Promotion Board, organisers of the fair, Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole, said the LCCI had been receiving requests for participation from both regular and new foreign exhibitors since the rebasing outcome was made public.
He said the exhibitors expressed the desire to take advantage of the benefits offered by Africa’s biggest economy.
“They are eager to enter into business relationship with prospective local partners. This becomes particularly germane with the new status of Nigeria since her classification by Ernst and Young as one of the top three economies in Africa to invest in,” he said.
According to him, everything is being put in place to ensure a successful outing as well as the best fair in 2014.
He stated that in furtherance of this, he recently led a delegation of the Trade Promotion Board officials to China.
“The team held discussions with a world-renowned trade exhibition company, CMEC International Exhibition Company as well as officials of marquee tent manufacturers, Liri Tent in Zhuhai,” he said.
He said the delegation included the Chairman, Marketing, Publicity and Protocol, Mr. Kehinde Amao; Chairman, Technical Committee, Mr. Funmi Banjoko and Director, Membership and Trade Promotion, Mr. Dele Alimi.
Olawale-Cole stated that the LCCI decided to purchase its own marquee tents from China as part of its efforts to scale up the quality of facilities at the Fair.
He said the 2014 Fair would hold between 7th and 16th November in Lagos with the theme, ‘Promoting the Nigerian Economy as a Preferred Investment Destination’.