The European Union through the Transport Community recently assessed that the Port of Durrës in Albania and the Port of Tivar in Montenegro are of strategic importance for maritime transport in the region as they connect it to the main European transport network.

In the last review of the Regional Transport plan, the European Union noted that Albania will move cargo processing services from the ports of Durrës and Vlora, but meanwhile assessed that it is important that the locations have rail and road connections.

But apart from these, the port of Vlora in Albania has been defined as the only comprehensive seaport of the extended TEN-T network in the Western Balkans.

The EU points out that the components of the maritime transport infrastructure are defined in Article 20 of the TEN-T Regulation, while Articles 22 and 23 define the requirements of the maritime transport infrastructure and the priorities for the development of the infrastructure.

Infrastructure components related to maritime transport consist of maritime space, sea channels, quays including infrastructure necessary for transport operations within the port area, connection of ports with other modes in the trans-European transport network, dams, etc, the EU said.

The requirements for maritime transport infrastructure under the TEN-T Regulation should ensure that seaports are connected to railway lines, road lines, inland waterways, unless physical constraints prevent such a connection, the EU added.

In the annual TEN-T report, the EU assessed that the seaports in the Western Balkans were assessed in compliance with the main infrastructure requirements defined by the TEN-T regulation.

The discrepancy for the Port of Durrës refers to the partial rail connection, as currently only the eastern port terminal is connected to the national rail network, so its multimodal dimension is currently very limited.

The EU emphasizes that, regarding the ports of Durrës and Vlora in Albania, local authorities have decided that both ports will be transformed into large modern marinas.

The current commercial port will be transferred to the Integrated Commercial Port of Durres in Porto Romano (9 km NW of Durres) and the current Port of Vlora will be transferred to the Integrated Commercial Port of Triport, Vlora (11 km north of Vlora.