Jürgen Sorgenfrei: “The Port of Koper is in great shape, but the competition never sleeps”

Candidates for a supervisory board position at Luka Koper. Foto: MMC RTV SLO

The Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) recently said that it would replace three members of the supervisory board at port operator Luka Koper – an announcement that caused quite a stir, given that the port operator is profitable. The most controversial candidate is Jürgen Sorgenfrei from Germany, who recently gave an interview to TV Slovenia.

Sorgenfrei used to work for the Port of Hamburg, a rival port operator. He also co-authored an OECD-study which concluded that it might be too risky for Slovenia to construct a second railway track between the port of Koper and the inland hub of Divača. TV Slovenia caught up with Sorgenfrei during his recent business trip to Australia. He said that the strong reaction in Slovenia surprised him, stressing that he had quit his job at the Port of Hamburg in 2009; hence, there could be no conflict of interest.

“From the port’s point of view, the second railway track [between Koper and Divača] would be great to have. But who’s going to fund it if the money isn’t there? We must work on this if we want to make it come true. This can only happen if transportation volumes increase,” said Sorgenfrei, adding: “The project needs to be developed. There are other partners. Just look at Greece and the Chinese investment in the Port of Piraeus. China has this project called ‘one belt, one road’. They invested in China along the Silk Road, and now they’ve invested in Piraeus. The next step is somewhere in the Northern Adriatic. They’ve already mentioned Venice, so there is competition there. Again, the position of Koper today is fantastic, but the project needs to be developed.”

SSH chairman: “We support the construction ofa second track between Koper and Divača
“Of course we support the construction of a second railway track between Koper and Divača, but we first need to construct a viable financial plan. We need to determine how to fund this project and figure out who’s going to profit from it. However, we categorically rule out the possibility of selling the Port of Koper or forming a logistic holding,” the chairman of the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH), Marko Jazbec, said. At the end of the day, one major problem remains: an outdated railway infrastructure between the coast and the central part of the country, as the government has still not revealed how it plans to fund the second railway track between Koper and Divača.

Al. Ma.; translated by D. V.