Historic moment: Hungary returns to the sea – Hungarian Trieste port construction started, PHOTOS

Although the Hungarian government talked about buying a port in Italy’s Trieste in 2018, they only acquired a territory where a port can be built. The construction project started, and Levente Magyar, Hungary’s deputy foreign minister, shared some details about it in a video in which he briefed the Italian press. The main message is that the port will start operation in 2028 instead of 2026, a date promised by FM Szijjártó before. Furthermore, Hungary will build a 650-metre-long seafront for the boats coming and going to serve the export needs of the Hungarian companies.

Hungarian Trieste port construction started

According to Mr Magyar, the new port will operate at full capacity by 2028. At least that is what the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) wrote based on his address at a press conference following a walkthrough on the site. However, in a video shared by the local intrieste.com, Magyar said that the Hungarian government would like the port to be operational by 2028. “We can then upgrade it gradually”. The confusion about the deadlines and dates is not unusual concerning the Trieste port development project. In 2022, FM Szijjártó promised the port would be operational by 2026.

The Hungarian government announced 7 years ago that they would like to buy a port on the Adriatic to help Hungarian companies export their products. The inclusion of the Trieste area was announced in 2019, and the Orbán cabinet said they already concluded the transaction. They did so only in 2020. Afterwards, the project was frozen, although the salaries at Adria Port Ltd, the state-owned Hungarian company responsible for the project, rose.

The area the Hungarian government bought is not a port (although the official communication was about obtaining a port), but a wharf and an industrial zone with ongoing legal proceedings. However, it seems the Hungarian government could overcome the difficulties because Deputy FM Levente Magyar travelled to Trieste to meet his Italian counterpart, Edoardo Rixi, and announce the start of the construction project.

“This marks a turning point for a project that is strategic to the growth of this territory, leveraging its access to the sea as a key advantage,” said Pierpaolo Roberti, Regional Councillor for Local Autonomy, who joined Mr Rixi and Mr Magyar for the on-site visit.

Port and logistics centre

According to the MTI, Magyar said the 30-hectare area under development had 650m of seafront. First, they will build a 250-metre-long seafront by filling the sea with 50 thousand cubic metres of dirt. In the second phase, they will extend that area by 400 metres to create the full 650-metre-long seafront where boats can dock. Finally, the Hungarian government would like to build a 30-hectare logistics centre with buildings required for maritime and trade operations.

According to Mr Magyar, Hungary’s exports bound for trading partners outside of Europe were delivered by sea. He talked about a physical export value of EUR 148 billion, with which Hungary is the world’s 34th biggest export country. Magyar suggested that Hungary’s competitiveness would suffer from the lack of a seaport.

A symbol of regional cooperation

Meanwhile, HVG, a Hungarian economy-focused news outlet, expressed scepticism about the profitability of the port. They also wrote in 2019 that the Hungarian government bought the port for a much higher sum than its real value (EUR 1.86 million vs EUR 484 thousand).

In their 2019 article, HVG wrote that the project would cost EUR 30 million. However, the Italian intrieste.com wrote that the total estimated cost of the new terminal reached EUR 200 million. According to the media outlet, that cost includes Italian governmental investments in the area to improve accessibility and port infrastructure.

Rixi called the project a symbol of regional cooperation and an opportunity to increase European economic growth. “This initiative not only grants Hungary, one of the EU’s top exporters, direct access to the Mediterranean but also strengthens Italy’s trade connections with Central and Eastern Europe,” he added.

Hungary regains access to the sea after 105 years

Hungary became a landlocked country in 1920 since the loss of WWI meant we lost our seafront in Croatia with our main port, Fiume (Rijeka). Afterwards, Hungary built Danube ports, the biggest on the Northern tip of Budapest’s Csepel Island (the capital’s 21st district), which is in operation even today, and the volume of goods transported there is constantly rising. We wrote HERE that the railway bridge leading to the port, however, is in a devastating condition requiring immediate governmental investment and intervention.

Read also:

• The cleaning of the port area started last September – we wrote about that in THIS article.