Turkish groups Kurum Holdings and Global Investments Holding are to operate a container terminal at Durres port in Albania, aiming to turn it into a hub serving landlocked countries in the western Balkans.

Zeki Kaya, Kurum Holding's country director, said the management and operation concession will be run in a joint venture by Kurum, which holds a 51 percent stake, and Global Investment Holdings, which holds 49 percent.

Active in steel production and shipyards in Albania for more than a decade, Kurum and its partner see Durres as a common port for the Balkans because of the potential of landlocked Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia.

They are betting on growing ties, road links and ongoing road-building linking Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia. This will provide a shortcut to the Danube, and part of Germany and Austria, bypassing the Istanbul and Dardanelles Straits.

"We are at the beginning of creating a very efficient competitive regional container hub that will mainly serve Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo and even Serbia," Kaya told Reuters in an interview.

All western Balkan countries aspire to join the European Union, probably years after Croatia joins in mid-2012. Durres port lies in western Albania, close to Italy's Bari port.

Under the agreement, the Turkish partners were expected to invest 33.5 million dollars. Kaya said the figure represented just the bottom line of their investment.

Existing Capacity
"Only two cranes will cost this much," he said. "The existing capacity is 80,000 TEU (tonnes equivalent unit) and in four to five years the capacity we are going to create there will be 300,000 TEU," Kaya said.

Macedonia, Albania's landlocked neighbour whose bid to join NATO and the European Union has stalled, has been increasingly relying on Durres on the Adriatic Sea.

Durres is connected to Macedonia through a rehabilitated two-lane road. Travel might get shorter thanks to a newly-started tunnel project. Kosovo can use a much better four-lane road that is not seeing much trade with Albania.

Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia three years ago, has been also been negotiating the use of one of Albania's ports but no deal has been reached so far.

Macedonian authorities had in the past approached Albania about jointly using the port capacity because a growing volume of Macedonian exports was destined for EU markets.

Kaya expects at least 12 vessels per week to be calling at Durres, up from 3-4 now. As soon as the port is dredged to allow a draft of 12.5 metres, ships bigger than 2,000 TEU will visit Durres.

The feeder vessels loaded at Durres will serve main container hubs at ports in the Adriatic Sea.

For their plan to fully work, the Turkish group has been calling on Albania to live up to its promise to build or complete the railway connections with neighbours. (Reuters)