TRIESTE – The port of Rijeka has taken another step in its relaunch strategy as an automotive logistics hub. In recent days, the Croatian port welcomed the “Abu Samrah”, the largest Ro-Ro vessel to have entered the new logistics flow dedicated to vehicles so far, developed together with Emil Frey Logistics and port management company Luka Rijeka.
The vessel, 210 metres long, carried 682 vehicles bound for the markets of Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, confirming Rijeka’s growing centrality in regional automotive traffic. The vehicles arrive by sea and are then routed through road and rail links, strengthening the Adriatic port’s multimodal profile.
The arrival of the Abu Samrah is the latest step in a process launched in recent months with the return of Ro-Ro vessels to Rijeka after more than 20 years of absence. The relaunch was symbolically inaugurated by the call of the “Ulusoy 5”, a Turkish-flagged vessel 163.8 metres long and 23.5 metres wide, which on its maiden voyage had unloaded around 400 Stellantis group vehicles — in particular Fiat, Peugeot and Citroën brands — arriving from Spain and bound for the Croatian market.
For Luka Rijeka, this was a “significant milestone”, capable of reopening the Ro-Ro segment and putting the Croatian port back on the regional vehicle logistics map. Shortly after the arrival of the Ulusoy 5, the “Polaris Princess”, a 117-metre car carrier, also called at the port, unloading a further 667 cars and confirming the start of a traffic flow set to consolidate.
