Page 137 - 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. 137
The Post-war Economy in Koper: Development Plans for the Port Industrial Activities ...
Luka Koper discussed the SRS Executive Council’s proposal to divide
Luka Koper into two parts: the Port Administration and Construction
Institute and a special Goods Transfer and Storage Company. The pro-
posed reorganization did not take place but two years later a new business
association, called the Koper Industrial Zone, was founded in Ljubljana.
The association reunited some of the most important Slovenian industri-
al and commercial companies (Tovarna dušika Ruše, Železarna Jesenice,
Tovarna aluminija Kidričevo, Etol Celje, Petrol Ljubljana and Prehrana
Ljubljana), the import-export Yugoslav company Centroprom Beograd,
and Luka Koper. Its aim was to prepare a plan for the arrangement of the
port complex and the gradual preparation of construction surfaces, com-
munications, and other infrastructure facilities, in order to make more
rational use of industrial shores, conversion plants, warehouses for raw
materials, and similar facilities. Otherwise, each company was to inde-
pendently manage its facilities inside the area. The development of the
port, in connection with the import of raw materials from overseas coun-
tries, was supposed to enable, above all, the modern tendency of indus-
try to approach the sea’.10
From this perspective, the establishment of the Business Association
was expected to have a significant impact on the further development of
the Port of Koper. With the agglomeration of commercial and industri-
al traffic in the port, it was thought possible to achieve quotas sufficient
to make profitable the construction of modern converters. On the other
hand, international business cooperation was also favoured in 1963, with
the declaration of the Port of Koper as a free customs zone. In addition
to customs facilities for the movement of foreign and domestic goods
through the port, the aim was to encourage the cooperation of domestic
and foreign companies with additional services, including industrial pro-
cessing for Central Europe and overseas.11
From 1966, the urbanization program for the Slovenian coast also
foresaw the possibility of the development of new industries within the
port activity, inside the port ‘industrial’ zone. According to the urban
plan for Koper, the industrial port and zone were located in the area of
the so-called Ankaran bonifika, which included land from the Rižana
10 PAK, 728, Petrinja Danilo, t. e. 11, ‘Razvoj Luke Koper, Pregled programov in ra-
ziskav’, November 1964, 135.
11 PAK, 728, Petrinja Danilo, t. e. 14. 7, ‘Program razvoja Luke Koper do leta 1975’,
Koper, June 1969, 34.
137
Luka Koper discussed the SRS Executive Council’s proposal to divide
Luka Koper into two parts: the Port Administration and Construction
Institute and a special Goods Transfer and Storage Company. The pro-
posed reorganization did not take place but two years later a new business
association, called the Koper Industrial Zone, was founded in Ljubljana.
The association reunited some of the most important Slovenian industri-
al and commercial companies (Tovarna dušika Ruše, Železarna Jesenice,
Tovarna aluminija Kidričevo, Etol Celje, Petrol Ljubljana and Prehrana
Ljubljana), the import-export Yugoslav company Centroprom Beograd,
and Luka Koper. Its aim was to prepare a plan for the arrangement of the
port complex and the gradual preparation of construction surfaces, com-
munications, and other infrastructure facilities, in order to make more
rational use of industrial shores, conversion plants, warehouses for raw
materials, and similar facilities. Otherwise, each company was to inde-
pendently manage its facilities inside the area. The development of the
port, in connection with the import of raw materials from overseas coun-
tries, was supposed to enable, above all, the modern tendency of indus-
try to approach the sea’.10
From this perspective, the establishment of the Business Association
was expected to have a significant impact on the further development of
the Port of Koper. With the agglomeration of commercial and industri-
al traffic in the port, it was thought possible to achieve quotas sufficient
to make profitable the construction of modern converters. On the other
hand, international business cooperation was also favoured in 1963, with
the declaration of the Port of Koper as a free customs zone. In addition
to customs facilities for the movement of foreign and domestic goods
through the port, the aim was to encourage the cooperation of domestic
and foreign companies with additional services, including industrial pro-
cessing for Central Europe and overseas.11
From 1966, the urbanization program for the Slovenian coast also
foresaw the possibility of the development of new industries within the
port activity, inside the port ‘industrial’ zone. According to the urban
plan for Koper, the industrial port and zone were located in the area of
the so-called Ankaran bonifika, which included land from the Rižana
10 PAK, 728, Petrinja Danilo, t. e. 11, ‘Razvoj Luke Koper, Pregled programov in ra-
ziskav’, November 1964, 135.
11 PAK, 728, Petrinja Danilo, t. e. 14. 7, ‘Program razvoja Luke Koper do leta 1975’,
Koper, June 1969, 34.
137
