In the morning the cruise ship Costa Classica landed in the Port of Koper (the photo was taken in Trieste). Costa Classica is one of the older ships from the fleet of the Italian cruise organizer. It was built in 1993 in Genoa. It is 200 m long, with the inside capacity of 52.926 gross tonnage. It carries 1680 passengers, with almost 600 members of crew looking after their needs.

After the wreckage of Costa Concordia off the island of Giglio the demand for cruises has diminished, but during the last year it again increased substantially. Also the interest in the Koper passenger terminal has increased since the decision by municipality authorities in Venice to limit access to the Venetian lagoon. Last year 55 ships landed in Koper, carrying approximately 66 thousand passengers. The head of the passenger terminal Bojan Babič predicts: "This year we expect from 55 to 60 arrivals, which means 70,000 or even more passengers. Upward trend!"
In the Port of Koper documentation is being prepared for acquiring the building permit. The construction of the passenger terminal should begin in the end of this year, or in case of the worst case scenario, in the beginning of the next year. For now the prefabricated buildings they are using satisfy the needs of transient passengers, but in order to become a home port where the passengers would start, and end their voyage, Koper needs suitable infrastructure.

Today Costa Classica visited us for the first time, and the last to visit us in this season will be the biggest ship of the Italian shipping line, Costa Diadema, which is still in construction in Marghera near Venice, which will accommodate almost 5000 passengers, and the crew of 1,200.

Lado Bandelj, Radio Koper
Translated by G. K.