Orbán cabinet: Trieste port to strengthen Hungary

The port and logistics base Hungary is establishing in Trieste will strengthen the country, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told news portal Origo in an interview on Friday, arguing that Hungarian companies had a fundamental interest in shipping their goods out to sea directly.

The Trieste port will provide reliability and predictability for Hungarian firms, which will guarantee profitability, Szijjártó said.

He said the interest generated by the project among exporters made it “obvious” that it would be profitable, arguing that Hungarian and international companies would pay significant sums of money for storage and shipping at the site.

Szijjártó said

the government had chosen Trieste because it is one of the closest ports to Hungary with enough capacity to meet the needs of Hungarian exporters.

He said the port would be used by medium-large sized freight vessels. The largest ships tend to dock either in Rotterdam or Piraeus where they transfer their goods onto smaller vessels before sending them off to Trieste, he added.

The turnover of goods between Trieste and Hungary has grown four-fold in recent years, with at least one freight train a day running between them, Szijjártó said. Hungary expects this to double once the Hungarian port starts operating, he added.