At the assembly of NAPA, held on 1st March 2017 in Koper, Dragomir Matić, president of Luka Koper took the half-year presidency of the NAPA association. As emphasized at the meeting of representatives of the ports, it is crucial that all ports continue investing in new facilities and strengthen the market position of the entire Adriatic transport route. Data for 2016 shows that in general the throughput in north Adriatic is increasing and that the mission of the association is being realized through the acquisition of trade flows, which traditionally sail to the ports of northern Europe. In the light of last year’s reforms, when the Italian Government has shrunk the number of port authorities and centralized decisions related to infrastructure plans, the association is now facing a new momentum posed by changes in the container shipping sector such as new alliances, introduction of new container services and ever bigger container vessels.
| Throughput of Venice, Trieste, Koper and Rijeka | 2015 | 2016 |
| Containers (TEU) | 2.052.361 | 2.151.498 |
| Dry bulk (ton) | 18.007.850 | 17.703.922 |
| Liquid bulk (ton) | 60.133.441 | 62.706.198 |
| General carco, ctn tonnage included (ton) | 35.708.098 | 37.240.705 |
| Total (ton) | 113.849.389 | 117.650.825 |
Almost exactly eight years ago the north Adriatic ports signed a letter of intent, which later led to the establishment of NAPA and the increasingly active role of the association in the field of recognition in the context of the European institutions and the promotion of North Adriatic transport route. Among the major achievements of the association we can stress the recognition of NAPA ports as the core EU ports of the TEN-T network, successful cooperation within the Mediterranean Motorways of the sea (MoS) projects, IT support projects such as customs clearance of containers (Single window and EDI center) and successful participation at several international trade fairs in Europe and Asia.
