Turkey’s Yilport Holding has taken over the operations at the Port of Šibenik in Croatia as part of Yildirim Group’s acquisition of Petrokemija, the country’s largest fertilizer plant.
The port operator said it intends to turn Šibenik, which used to operate as the main fertilizer handling port in the country, into a multi-purpose terminal, offering diversified services.
The first phase of the planned €50m ($53m) investment will see the rehabilitation of existing operations, the installation of one more mobile harbor crane, and an increase in storage capacity at the terminal. The terminal will be dredged to a draft of 13 m to accommodate larger vessels up to panamax size. A third mobile harbor crane will also be installed after container operations start at the terminal.
The second phase of the proposed business plan includes startup investments for roro and liquid cargo services, Yilport said.
Šibenik port has a direct railway connection to Zagreb and currently serves Croatian and Bosnian bulk cargo and general cargo customers by rail and road network connections. It has three berths and handles general cargo ships up to 50,000 dwt and 2,000 teu container vessels.
The latest move has lifted Yilport’s portfolio to 24 terminals across 12 countries.
