Page 134 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 134
plex Gateways
ated industrialization, the Koper district gained exceptional importance
within the Slovenian economy, mainly in relation to its traffic-strategic
coastal location, which in the post-war period influenced the construc-
tion of the port of Koper (Terčon 2015, 293–8).
Along with this new economic development, the growing need for
fuels and lubricants began to appear in the Koper district, both in re-
lation to land transport as well as for the needs of maritime transport
and industry. After the end of the Second World War, fuel contingents
for the Koper area were provided by the Yugoslav federal government and
supplied by the companies Jugopetrol and Jugonafta.2 Local companies
carried out the distribution of fuels. Initially, the fuel depots were man-
aged by the fuel department at Avtopodjetje Adrija, and in 1948 an in-
dependent company, called Istra-benz Koper,3 was established to supply
fuels and lubricants to the then zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste.
Fuel was supplied from Rijeka, Solin, Bosanski Brod, and Osijek, and af-
ter the annexation to Yugoslavia, the supply of fuel and lubricants to
the Koper area took place mainly from the Rijeka and Sisak refineries.4
From the refinery in Rijeka, the Istra-benz company was supplied direct-
ly by tank trucks, and from the Sisak refinery using railway tanks to the
Podgorje railway station. The gas was then transported to the depots in
Koper or to individual pumps. Sales of fuel and lubricants took place at
pumping stations in Divača, Koper, Izola, Piran, Buje, Umag, Novigrad,
and Kozina. The company supplied goods directly to customers of larg-
er quantities of fuel using tankers. The transport capacity was initially
supplied by all types of ships, namely fishing, passenger, and cargo ships,
as well as the suction excavator Peter Klepec, which performed dredging
works in the new port areas in Koper. Due to the growing fuel consump-
tion, the company bought a new tanker with a trailer with a total capaci-
ty of 29,000 litres in 1959 and the associated equipment with which, with
the development of the port of Koper, they wanted to supply fuel for larg-
er ocean-going ships. The customers of fuel and lubricants were mainly
local and regional companies. After the signing of the Udine Agreement
between Yugoslavia and Italy, in 1955 there was a sharp increase regard-
2 PAK, 170, Istrska banka, t. e. 33. 65, ‘Dopis Jugopetrola Zagreb’, rec. n. 106/47, Ko-
per, dated 22 December 1947.
3 PAK, 170, Istrska banka, t. e. 40. 78. ‘Splošno poslovanje trgovine s tekočimi gori-
vi in mazivi Istra-Benz in načrt za izboljšanje in koordinacijo dela v celoti’.
4 PAK, 170, Istrska banka, t. e. 40. 78. Letter n. G/Š-49, dated Koper 22 November
1949.
134
ated industrialization, the Koper district gained exceptional importance
within the Slovenian economy, mainly in relation to its traffic-strategic
coastal location, which in the post-war period influenced the construc-
tion of the port of Koper (Terčon 2015, 293–8).
Along with this new economic development, the growing need for
fuels and lubricants began to appear in the Koper district, both in re-
lation to land transport as well as for the needs of maritime transport
and industry. After the end of the Second World War, fuel contingents
for the Koper area were provided by the Yugoslav federal government and
supplied by the companies Jugopetrol and Jugonafta.2 Local companies
carried out the distribution of fuels. Initially, the fuel depots were man-
aged by the fuel department at Avtopodjetje Adrija, and in 1948 an in-
dependent company, called Istra-benz Koper,3 was established to supply
fuels and lubricants to the then zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste.
Fuel was supplied from Rijeka, Solin, Bosanski Brod, and Osijek, and af-
ter the annexation to Yugoslavia, the supply of fuel and lubricants to
the Koper area took place mainly from the Rijeka and Sisak refineries.4
From the refinery in Rijeka, the Istra-benz company was supplied direct-
ly by tank trucks, and from the Sisak refinery using railway tanks to the
Podgorje railway station. The gas was then transported to the depots in
Koper or to individual pumps. Sales of fuel and lubricants took place at
pumping stations in Divača, Koper, Izola, Piran, Buje, Umag, Novigrad,
and Kozina. The company supplied goods directly to customers of larg-
er quantities of fuel using tankers. The transport capacity was initially
supplied by all types of ships, namely fishing, passenger, and cargo ships,
as well as the suction excavator Peter Klepec, which performed dredging
works in the new port areas in Koper. Due to the growing fuel consump-
tion, the company bought a new tanker with a trailer with a total capaci-
ty of 29,000 litres in 1959 and the associated equipment with which, with
the development of the port of Koper, they wanted to supply fuel for larg-
er ocean-going ships. The customers of fuel and lubricants were mainly
local and regional companies. After the signing of the Udine Agreement
between Yugoslavia and Italy, in 1955 there was a sharp increase regard-
2 PAK, 170, Istrska banka, t. e. 33. 65, ‘Dopis Jugopetrola Zagreb’, rec. n. 106/47, Ko-
per, dated 22 December 1947.
3 PAK, 170, Istrska banka, t. e. 40. 78. ‘Splošno poslovanje trgovine s tekočimi gori-
vi in mazivi Istra-Benz in načrt za izboljšanje in koordinacijo dela v celoti’.
4 PAK, 170, Istrska banka, t. e. 40. 78. Letter n. G/Š-49, dated Koper 22 November
1949.
134
