Hungary will have a seaport again after 100 years

One and a half years ago, in July 2019, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, announced that Hungary was going to purchase its own seaport to encourage Hungarian export to be conducted in the country’s own prospective seaport. This means that Hungary would finally have a seaport again after over 100 years.

According to Index, in 2019, there were two possible locations for the port. At first, the government wanted to purchase a port in the Slovenian Koper, but due to the worsening political relations and the different views of the two countries, Hungary ended up planning a different location. This is when they decided to reimagine the idea and started to negotiate with the Italian Matteo Salvini. The relations of Hungary were strengthening with the then-Minister of the Interior due to similar worldviews. Péter Szijjártó and the Italian Minister of the Interior announced in a press conference in 2019 that they had signed the contract and

Hungary managed to purchase a 300-metre-long port with 32 hectares of land area for €31 million as part of a 60-year concession contract in Trieste.

Index also wrote that, for a long time, no progress has been made, as certain conditions for concluding the contract and conducting the sale have not been fully met. The most recent and probably most major step in the process was made back on December 17, 2020. We know this as Péter Szijjártó, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, has confirmed the information to Hvg that on December 17, Aquila, the Italian company owning the concession, came under the full ownership of the Hungarian Adria Port, which the government founded just for this port project.

This moment concluded a 100-year period since the Treaty of Trianon during which Hungary had no seaport.

But, unfortunately, there is a catch. Although the port is now under Hungarian ownership as part of a concession contract, the port cannot conduct any ship traffic yet.

In order for the port to be able to receive ships and their cargo, the area must first be remediated, and a heritage protection procedure must be carried out, which can take up to a year.

Moreover, the Hungarian government plans investment in the development of the infrastructure of the area for another €100 million. The government expects Hungarian corporations and enterprises to conduct their shipping from the seaport in Trieste which would help reach the markets of Africa and the Middle East easier.

The expected cargo traffic is 2 million tonnes every year, which is about 78,000 containers.

After conducting the purchase, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has raised the fund of Adria Port Zrt. from €1.8 million to €16.8 million. Incidentally, Adria Port Zrt. only has four registered employees, including its chief executive officer, whose salary has been raised from HUF 1.5 million (€4,100) to HUF 1.9 million (€5,200).

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Source: Index.hu, Hvg.hu