In March, next year should start regular rail freight from Macedonia to Thessaloniki port.
As announced today the managing director of the port Stiliano Ageludis, Macedonian companies must consider this priority.
- The introduction of regular rail lines, agreed at the meetings with representatives of institutions in both countries will reduce transport costs and we expect to increase transport, said Ageludis at the press conference after the presentation at the Economic Chamber of Macedonia.
Marine and rail traffic, he stressed, are the cheapest. The combination of these two can reduce costs by 20 to 30 percent.
According to him, for modernizations of the port in Thessaloniki were invested 30 million euro, and the same amount will be invested in the new equipment, machinery, excavators, forklifts. The port operates continuously, 24 hours, and prices of services are not changed over the years despite the economic crisis.
- For these reasons we are the most competitive from Trieste to Burgas, from Durres to Piraeus, said the director. Last year, the total transport through the port of Thessaloniki was 2.163 million tons of bulk cargoes or over 23,000 containers, i.e. 13.35 percent of increase over the previous period.
Ageludis informed that cooperation with Macedonian companies is intensified and that they have exceeded previously detected problems caused by erratic operation of customs and strikes in 2008.
