Landlocked Hungary to get first seaport since WW1 came to an end

To get from Budapest, the capital of landlocked Hungary, to Trieste on Italy’s Adriatic coastline, containers need to travel more than 550 km, including across the breadth of neighbour Slovenia. Nevertheless, the Italian city is set to become Hungary’s primary port in the coming years as construction has just got underway on a 30 hectare site the Hungarian government has bought with the port project set to be complete by 2028. 

Adria Port, a Hungarian state-owned company, is developing the $209m project, which will feature 650 m of quayside and a 30 hectare logistics centre. 

“If the country does not have its own sea exit and seaport capacity, it will always be at the mercy of others. We would like to change this situation,” said Levente Magyar, Hungary’s foreign minister, visiting the site last week.

Hungary became a landlocked country more than a century ago in the wake of World War One and the loss of sea access via Croatia. 

The country has also recently signed a pact with Bulgaria to create a transport corridor to provide export links via the Black Sea.

The principal port of Hungary, Budapest or the Csepel Freeport, lies on the river Danube and handles more than 1.2m tonnes of cargo per year.