Today, the vessel Ultra Panther was moored at the Terminal for Cereals and Fodder of the Port of Koper from which the largest single amount of soya will be unloaded in the following eight days. It is 61,000 tonnes of soybean meal transported from Brazil via Koper mainly to the countries of the Central Europe, as well as to Slovenia and the countries of former Yugoslavia.
This single soya throughput is a unique record not only for the Port of Koper but also within the North Adriatic. In addition to the sea depth of 13.5 m, the Terminal for Cereals and Fodder is perfectly equipped for both soya handling as well as storage in specially adapted warehouses (flat stores and silo storage capacity amounts to about 120,000 tonnes). Said above provides a fundamental competitive edge against other ports in the North Adriatic hence the Italian soya exporter chose Koper as an entry port to Europe years ago. The fodder will be transported via Koper to the Central European countries; Hungary, for instance, meets up to 50 percent of the country’s demand for soya via the Port of Koper.
Logistics and maritime services of this important deal are managed by Koper-based company S.A.GE.M. specialised in break bulk cargos whereas soya is imported to Europe and distributed by NIDERA SpA from Rome, a subsidiary of the multinational company NIDERA s.p.a. established in 1902 in Rotterdam. NIDERA supplies agri-food markets throughout the world. Their annual sales amount to more than 33 million tonnes of oily seeds and oils, grains, pellets and other agri-food products which ranks them among the world leading traders and distributors of said cargo. Mr Marcello Carlomagno, Managing Director of Nidera SpA, commented upon this event: "Since we started our cooperation with Luka Koper in 2008 we saw the volumes shipped by Nidera steadily growing and Luka Koper has become our most important logistic strategic partner in the area. It is now with great pride we are announcing a record for the port shipping over 61,000 tonnes of soybean meal from Brazil in a single shipment on the m/v Ultra Panther. I wish to thank Luka Koper and our forwarding agents S.A.GE.M. Koper for the constant high quality service delivery which helped us to grow and improve to reach this result, which just few years ago was unthinkable. I also wish to thank all our customers in the region who ultimately made possible this stunning performance."
Today’s arrival of Ultra Panther beats the largest single throughput of soya in Port of Koper from 2010 when we handled 44,000 tonnes of soybean transported by vessel Firmeza.
The vessel Ultra Panther at Luka Koper, 19th June 2013 (photo: Mateja Dominko)
Ultra Panther is a vessel specialised in the transport of break bulk cargos. Built in 2008, its length x breadth amount to 229 m x 32 m, it has a dead weight of 83,610 t and sails under the Panama flag.
