B2B MEETING: MARITIME FREIGHT TRANSPORT, Meeting Minutes, 22/12/2021

Posted by 6+1 Vlora TV on Thursday, December 23, 2021

Partner’s List.

Welcome and introduction of partners.
Ina Lucaj
, Director of Institute of Transport, her speech was represent from the Prof.as.Dr. Shkelqim Gjevori. He gave a welcome to all the partners and private operators involve to this presentation. After that Mr. Gjevori introduces an overview of all the works that have been done through the Year 2021, all the projects that Albania Institute of Transport has been involved. After that he invites the participants to represent their projects for the audience according to the agenda.

Annachiara Stefanucci, Coordinator of the EU Funds Department in ITS Logistica Puglia, Taranto, Italy. (online)

PRESENTATION OF THE PORTS 4.0 PROJECT

Eng. Leonard Cake, Specialist of Albania Institute of Transport in his presentation has introduced the overall of the Purpose, objectives and activities of “Ports 4.0.
In this overview of the main objectives of the Ports 4.0 project some main point are shown below:

  • PORTS 4.0 to Increase coordination among relevant stakeholders to promote sustainable cross border connections in the Co-operation area.
  • The Adriatic and Ionian Seas represent the backbone of the Programme area and one of its major assets.
  • Maritime transportation of passengers and freight, accordingly, is an economic sector that plays a significant role for the programme.
  • To ensure a balance between the need for keeping the competitiveness of these sectors and their ability to meet environmental legislation, energy efficiency, safety, security, and societal challenges.
  • Setting up an enduring multilevel and multidisciplinary transnational cooperation network that will then guarantee an important impact on the circulation of innovations.
  • The PORTS 4.0 aims at building up a solid network of public and private stakeholders in the field of logistics and maritime transports.
  • The promotion of advanced information and communication technologies is meant to create new cross-border services to support shipping and logistic chains.
  • The enhancement of sustainable and efficient cross-border maritime connections is of paramount importance for the programme and must go hand-in-hand with a better coordination among all relevant stakeholders.
  • The project will foster a better dialogue among these actors with the aim to facilitate the matching between the industry/business needs and the latest research trends and technological advancements and to establish a cross-border stakeholder eco-system.

B2B SESSION 1: MARITIME OF TRANSPORT FREIGHTS ROLE. REINFORCING COMMERCIAL RELATIONS – MARITIME FREIGHTS TRANSPORT FUTURE. Moderator – Shkelqim Gjevori (Institute of Transport MIE)

Role of Good’s Maritime transport.
Prof.as.Dr. Shkelqim Gjevori,
Chief of Study and Project of Albanian Institute of Transport spoke about the overview of the Ports 4.0 Project. Also in his project for the audience mention about the superiority of maritime transport .Through it are transported every day thousands of tons of goods such as oil, gas, industrial products and by-products, agricultural and livestock products, machinery, etc.

Maritime transport becomes irreplaceable due to: large volumes that it is able to transport, relatively low cost of service as well as connecting bridge between continents.

Some of the main points in the project are shown below:

  • International transport of goods in Albania.
  • Transport in our country it is performed by sea, road, rail and air transport. Provided an overview of the volumes of Import / Export of goods according to the models of transport for the Years 2016-2020 and the weight of each type of transport.
  • Import / Export of goods by model of transport.
  • Comparison between country’s ports.
  • Import/ Export of goods by ports for Year 2020.
  • Import / Export by commodity groups in our ports for Year 2017
  • Work volumes for the years 2016-2020 divided according to the weight of each terminal
  • Statistics for Ferry Terminal and general information about the port of Durres.
  • Information for DURRËS PORTUAL AUTHORITY, statistics of import-export of goods by sea from this port.
  • Statistics of volumes ferry processing work at the Vlora Seaport for the duration Year 2016-2020.
  • The project for the current Port of Vlora is focused on the processing of passengers and vehicles and not the processing of goods.

 

Maritime transport and impact on Economy
Prof.Dr. Klodiana Gorica
, provides an overview of her research in Maritime Transport in the contest of the Blue Economy Growth and to identify and underline the role of Maritime Transport in the context of Blue Economy and Economic Dimension of SDG.

Some of the main issues mentions on her project are represented below:

  • Definition of Blue economy: economic indicators related to maritime transport
  • Main value chain of Blue economy: maritime transport sector
  • Maritime transport and impact on Economy
  • Three main pillars in maritime transport
  • Maritime transport and Sustainable tourism: an economic analyze for further investment
  • Some recommendation for prioritization of maritime transport and other forms of transport for the future Albanian challenges in the mainframe of SGD
  • BLUE GROWTH as a fundamental system to reach SUSTAINABILITY
  • Maritime Transport- Fundamental Pillars
  • Definition of Blue Economy: General facts
  • Implementation of the policies and initiatives under the European Green Deal
  • Blue Green Economy – key concepts
  • COVID 19 Impact on Blue Economy
  • Main value chain of Blue economy: maritime transport sector
  • MARITIME TRANSPORT- Main Indicators
  • Maritime Transport and Climate change Incentives.
  • MARITIME TRANSPORT- Trends and Drivers. 
  • The use of information technology, digitalization and automation also the other opportunities and challenges to the sector
  • Influence of The Maritime Transport on other sectors
  • Emerging Goals, Sustainability and Digital Transaction
  • Extended economic impact of maritime through tourism.
  • Marine transport SWOT

 

The role of loading and unloading logistics in the efficiency of maritime freight transport.
Prof.as.Dr. Kristofor Lapa
, Lector at Faculty of Technical and Natural Sciences, University of Vlore “Ismail Qemali” in his project discussed about the economic crisis and the Covid 19 pandemic have had a somewhat negative impact on international maritime trade, yet freight shipping continues to be a major issue in the world trading economy. Shipping lines and ports where internationally traded goods are processed continue to be key links in the supply chain of world economic markets.

The main points through the project shown to audience are on the lines below:

  • Shipping companies tend to optimize costs by utilizing port assets and supporting logistics that facilitate the processing and delivery of goods processed in them.
  • State policies regarding port infrastructure, logistics support and cargo handling system.
  • The role of ship processing logistics in international trade.
  • The impact of ship processing processes on the Albanian economy
  • Albanian ports (especially the ports of Durrës and Vlora) generate the service of processing and circulation of goods, facilitate their movement to the respective destinations in the import giving a strong stimulus to the economy of the country.
  • Represent the statistics and the perspective of the Albanian economy that is closely related to the competitive capabilities of its ports in the world market.

 

Digitalization and its importance in the Supply Chain management.
Prof.as.Dr. Osman Metalla
, Dean of Faculty of Professional Studies, University of Durres “Aleksander Moisiu” in his case study introduce for the audience the brief history of Eevolution in port sector and shipping industry.

Some of the main point mentions in his presentation are:

  • Digitalization of Ports and its importance in the Supply Chain management.
  • Some presentation of Ports in early days.
  • Containers’ revolution.
  • Next generation – digital supply chain
  • Supply Chain 4.0 – the application of the Internet of Things, the use of advanced robotics and the application of advanced analytics of big data in supply chain management.
  • Trends in supply chain management
  • Industry 4.0 creates a disruption and requires companies to rethink the way they design their supply chain.
  • Several mega trends have a heavy influence on supply chain management
  • The online trend of the last years has led to increasing service expectations combined with a much stronger granularization of orders
  • The online-enabled transparency and easy access to a multitude of options regarding where to shop and what to buy drives the competition of supply chains.
  • Vision of the future: Faster, more flexible, more granular, more accurate, more efficient.
  • Digital waste prevents supply chains from leveraging the potential of Supply Chain 4.0
  • Complexity of port operations
  • Levels of digital transformation into a smart port.
  • Creating value through smart ports
  • Digitization and innovation, fostering an attractive environment that encourages innovation and the adoption of new technologies,
  • Quality of service and economic regulation, creating a transparent environment that allows ports to establish indicators that track the quality of their services
  • Climate change, the environmental cost of port activities (such as air, water, and noise pollution, or waste generation) tend to be localized, chiefly affecting nearby communities.
  • Drivers for smart ports: Energy related changes.
  • Barriers to developing smart ports.

 

Everest is one of the leading companies in the production of aluminum profiles in the Balkans.
Ms. Evis Cupi from company “EVEREST, represents an overview of this company in as a leader in the production of aluminum profiles and role of this company in Balkans area. 

Some of her main topics mention in her projects is shown below:

  • Everest has more than 25 years of experience in the field of making aluminum profiles
  • Contemporary technology and Production capacity always increasing.
  • Everest up to now has over 450 employees.
  • Exports to USA, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Malta, Greece
  • Background of this company from years 1997-2018
  • Statistics on Exports: Over 100 exports per year to Italy, 30 exports per year to Montenegro.
  • Problems at border crossings (Customs)
  • Strategies of “EVEREST” on future development.
  • Suggestions about Investment in railway transport
  • Suggestion of exports directs lines to Asia avoiding transit to the port of Piraeus, also direct line to America.
  • Introductory video of the company “EVEREST”
 
ATOM Computers.
Mr. Armand Agolli from company “ATOM SH.P.K” in his presentation for the audience show the history and business relationship of this company in Albanian and International market with the other biggest company in their field. 
 
Some of the main point mentions in his project are:
  • Different products and clients served from the company.
  • Partnership of company with biggest company such as: Dell, HP, Lenovo, CISCO etc.
  • Introduce of their costumers, some of the sectors to mention are: Telecom Operators, Government Institutions, Enterprise/Corporate, SME & Business and Individual Clients.
  • Projects of ATOM SHPK involved like: EMIS, Microchip Animal Management Systems etc.
  • Their suppliers divided by products
  • Statistics about the transport divided by categories: Maritime, Land and Air transports.
  • Comparison table for the problems and issues during the transportation of the products in the Maritime transport, Land and Air transport.

SESSION 2: REINFORCING COMMERCIAL RELATIONS – BOTTLENECKS AND EVERYDAY CHALLENGES - Moderator Eneida Elezi

Maritime Transport of Albania.
Eng. Lindita Cama
, Specialist of Albania Institute of Transport in her project discussed about the main topic shown in the paragraph below:

  • SHENGJIN Seaport is the northern most seaports of Albania and an important hub for Kosovo’s access to the sea.
  • The port has traditionally been used for the import of construction materials and petroleum products, as well as the export of small volumes of copper ores.
  • Following the government’s decision to focus hydrocarbon processing on two ports: Porto Romano near Durres and the Italian-Albanian Petroleum near Vlora as the only recent activities at the port have been mainly related to the processing of cement cargo for industry.
  • General Information about the other ports of Albania, PORT OF SARANDA.

 

Transportation of goods by rail.
Ms. Eneida Elezi
, MBA from Foreign Affairs Office, Albania Railway S. A open her presentation with overview according to the role of Albania Railway in transportation of goods through the territory of Albania, Montenegro affording the cheapest price compare to other operators such as air transportation, maritime transport etc.

Some hot topics mentions in her presentation are such as:

  • Functional duties of company incl. Administration, Management & Internal control of the HSH
  • Albanian Railways management as a commercial state owned Company (SOE) is realized by: Supervisory Council and Company administrator, who is not a member of the GB Board
  • Operator of the Freight Transport Business Unit and operator of the Passenger Transport Unit, Perform their rail transport service of both goods (F) and passengers (P) in its railway network
  • Infrastructure asset management plan (railway lines RIA- AMS)
  • Origin – destination (O – D) matrixes and transport model, FREIGHT transport by rail.
  • Transportation of goods by rail in the Albanian and Italian group Petrolifera Italo – Albanese (PIA) 2 (two) TDG daily trains of the AlbRail Ltd concessionary (ROT) operational scheme 1 mln Ton.
  • Railways in Albania ALBRAIL and HSH supports massive freight transport volumes. Transport and logistics chain is thoroughly organized by the contributors and centers. 7 logistic centers are planned with the Albanian government, and Institute of Transport.
  • AlbRail Ltd (O-D) from port of PIA exports of fuel tanks transport dangerous goods. HSH imports from port of Durres scrap are transport of dangerous goods to Elbasan.
  • Railway offer Low cost at transportation, safety, security, less pollution, big spaces. Capacity allocation, accuracy in the timetable.
  • Human capital and authorized staff always in the right places, due time, and price. Larger volumes at the lowest prices and tariffs which are in the publication already.
  • Durres Port imports by rail are originated by China, Turkey, the Netherland, and Greece.
  • The CEFTA countries have contracted rail transports for Receiver of goods in Albania.  These trains arrive in Tuz joint railway border station in their itinerary from Podgorica.

 

Maritime Transport of Albania.

After the end of B2B session 2 all the participants in the room were free to discuss in small group about the future development of the Maritime transport of the Region area. 

Conclusion
In this meeting, co-operation agreements were concluded between some private companies such as: ATOM SH.P.K with MILSPEAD ALBANIA, JADKOAGENT BA (Montenegro) with DIAMANT, EVEREST SH.P.K with DELTA Group and University of Vlore “Ismail Qemali” with EVEREST SH.P.K.

During the event, local media (TV) such as (TV 6 + 1) were present recording the best topic of the meeting to show in the news of the day at national TV.  Also the media interview some participants and some of them to mention are Prof.as.Dr. Shkelqim Gjevori, Ms. Evis Cupi from the company “EVEREST”, Ms. Eneida Elezi from the Albania Railway S.A and MSc. Maja Škurić from the University of Montenegro.