2018 - A year of good results

Dear colleagues and friends,

Port Governance Agency has celebrated our 5th birthday this year. During this time, we have formed an expert team and defined our business vision in accordance with the goals of the Government of Serbia. All our efforts have been directed towards the development and improvement of port activities in Serbia

As proposed by the Agency the Government of Serbia has declared 17 port areas, among which there are six international passenger terminals. In this year's nautical season, we have successfully completed public calls for the election of first operators at international passenger terminals in Sremski Karlovci, Golubac and Donji Milanovac and signed contracts on supplying ships by motor fuel on two bunkering stations in Veliko Gradiste.

The Agency’s team carefully analyzed the data on the cargo movement and transhipment, and in this way, records were established and analyses of the volume of traffic and the type of goods transhipped were perfected.

We estimate that by the end of the year 10 percent more goods will be transhipped than in the previous period, i.e. nearly 12 million tons of cargo.

When it comes to passenger traffic, the multi-year growth trend continued this year as well. We have recorded 1,148 cruise ships with more than 157,000 crossings. Compared with last year's season, that is about 15 percent more port calls and 20 percent more passengers who have visited Serbia via rivers. The development of cruising and domestic liner traffic was high on the list of priorities of the Agency. Based on the successful implementation of the project of promotion of passenger terminals in the east of Serbia, we launched a new project called "Awaken the Danube", which will cover five locations on the upper Danube - Apatin, Banostor, Novi Sad, Srem Karlovci and Zemun.

In April this year with the city municipality of Zemun and Public Water Company "Beogradvode" we signed a Contract on financing and construction of an international passenger terminal in Zemun, into which the Agency will invest 40 million dinars. The implementation of this capital project will contribute to the development of tourism and increase revenues, and the opening of the terminal is expected in the second half of 2019.

Amendments to the Law on Navigation and Ports on Inland Waterways, which entered into force in 2018, envisages new responsibilities of the Agency relating to marinas.

In the following period, the Agency will determine special-purpose port areas for the reception, storage and equipment of vessels for recreation, sport and entertainment, and issue approvals for the performance of this activity. One of the Agency's activities will be the issuance of permits for carrying out port activity related to the transshipment of river aggregates, that is, gravel and sand, at locations defined by the general act and plan of placement of such facilities. In this way, we will complete the process of introducing this port activity into the system and issuing the corresponding licenses.

We have continued successful cooperation with the line Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Economy, the National Property Directorate and other relevant state institutions.

The most important task next year will be the continuation of investments and the creation of conditions for the development of port infrastructure. We have provided the finances that we will invest in the preparation of technical documentation for the expansion of existing port areas, promotion of water transport and international projects.

We will complete the declaration of all port areas, which will successfully complete the first phase on the road to a well-established system in the area of ports and terminals. As a socially responsible institution, we have also focused on environmental protection, and after funding and completing the Study on river waste management, we are going to create prerequisites for the initiation of projects in this field.

Following the strategic path of the Government of Serbia towards the digitalization of the state administration, we will work on the development of new information technologies and the improvement of existing software solutions.

In 2019, and in the years to follow, we will continue developing port activities - all the efforts of our team will be directed towards the improvement of competitiveness of Serbian ports in Europe and internationally and creating a favorable environment for better business.

PGA team