Port of Igoumenitsa

Strategy

Igoumenitsa Port Authority sets high, ambitious but at the same time realistic goals regarding its identity, image and operation in the future, which are imprinted as follows:

• Setting the port as the Western Gate of the Balkans for the transportation of passengers and goods and assuming a catalytic role for the development of domestic and international freight transport, exploiting the strategic position of the port and its proximity to important infrastructure such as Egnatia Odos Motorway and Ionian Highway, and its modern infrastructure and facilities with the completion of its expansion projects.
• Consolidation of the port of Igoumenitsa as an international home port, offering competitive and high-quality port services and infrastructure, attracting and promoting long-term partnerships with port users.
• Construction of the Igoumenitsa Freight Village will serve freight flows to and from Adriatic regions and will further enhance the viability and efficiency of each Marine Corridor that either starts or passes through the port of Igoumenitsa. The improved intermodal route along the Adriatic-Ionian corridor will support the integration of Maritime Corridors into a complex supply chain between Southeastern Europe (Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM, Turkey) and other Balkan countries (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina , Serbia, Montenegro, Romania) as well as Central and Western Europe (Northern and Central Italy, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, France, Spain).
• Setting the port of Igoumenitsa as a port of call for cruise ships and ensure its integration within the destinations of the major cruise market companies in the Mediterranean.
• Developing a network of marinas and tourist boat shelters of high-quality tourist yachts, while at the same time significantly increasing port revenues and developing the wider area than attracting high-income tourists.
• Achieve, through proper and efficient port management, maximization of its performance and value, ensuring its long-term viability and, at the same time, contributing catalytically to the economic and social development of Igoumenitsa and, more broadly, of Western Greece.

The main strategic objectives of Igoumenitsa Port Auhtority and the strategic directions for achieving these goals, by activity (productive function) are the following:

Freight flows

The aim is to increase the port’s revenues significantly from the increase of the commercial traffic and the optimal service of the transit needs of the regions of Western and Northern Greece and the countries of the southern Balkans in general. The main competitive advantages will be the significant reduction in freight time and cost from Northern, Western Greece and Balkan countries in Western Europe via the Egnatia Motorway and the Ionian Highway, as well as the clearly upgraded services offered by the new infrastructures of the 2nd Expansion Phase of the port.

Passenger Traffic

The aim is to enhance the internal and external passenger traffic by taking advantage of the positive prospects of tourism for the coming years and the significant increase in the number of ships that will use the port as point of departure, significantly improving the revenues of port from passenger service and from vessel mooring. A crucial factor for the realization of this goal is the expansion of port infrastructure – Phase B and Phase C (currently under construction) and the general upgrading of port services. At the same time, the development of the tourist activities of the port (Cruise Terminal) is also a major impetus for the passenger traffic of the port.

Tourism Port activities and strengthening of tourism development prospects in Thesprotia

The aim is to increase the tourist traffic of Thesprotia, to attract “high level” tourism, on the one hand to the exploitation of important assets of the organization and on the other hand to increase the passenger traffic generated by the development of the tourist prospects of the region.

These areas are already a pole of tourism attraction and have significant prospects for further development, which will be greatly enhanced by the development of modern marinas and tourist boat shelters.