The development of a passenger shipping line in Albania: Economical and operational consideration.

This work is a presentation of the passenger and vehicle transportation by sea in and out Albania. Being impossible (not practicable as well) to cover this activity in all its details, the attention is focused on the port of Durres, which represents about 80 % of the total Albanian ferry traffic. Although Albania serves of direct sea connections with Yugoslavia and Greece respectively on north and south directions, the major destination of passenger shipping is Italy. This country that is the main trade partner for Albania. It is enough to mention that for the period 1997 – 2001, to Italy were directed in average 63.4 % of exports and 39.4 % of imports, second place held by Greece, with respectively 16 % and 27.6 %. Italian ports are source or destination for about 94 % of trailers and 99 % of the passenger and car traffic that enters and leaves Durres, as per year 2001 figures.

A brief history of the development of the passenger shipping in Albania is provided at the beginning. Its strong relation with the political situation in Albania is mentioned and their interrelation is briefly presented. Then the traffic data are presented and analyzed, as effected by various operators, types of ships and ports of call. The 1995-2001 data are dealt with more carefully, trying to discover the starting rush of the traffic as well as the fluctuating trend of a stabilized operation afterwards. All this will serve as background to the plan of inserting a new passenger shipping line in operation.

The analysis is deepened in the subsequent chapter, whereby the actual company is dealt with in a real-like situation and a simple financial analysis is provided. Finally, in two short chapters some administrative and legal matters of the national and international type that a ferry operator should consider when starting a new passenger and vehicle shipping activity will be discussed.

Some conclusions will be given at the end of this work. The main idea is that passenger shipping in Albania has a very good future. This conclusion is based on the growing demand of the domestic users as well as from the position of the Durres port as a transiting point for the FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia), Kosovo and even more distant traffic.

Differently from the practice in other countries, passenger shipping in Albania, due to the enormous growth in a very short time, has created its way by itself, not allowing much time for the necessary support and control by the responsible decision making authorities. Now, the time is ripe to discuss implementing a major government planning and preparation framework of the transport strategy in Albania, whereby the transport by ferries should have a respectable place. Although the main financial burden of this operation has to remain with the operators, the state should provide “some degree of built-in stability for the economy” (Maddison, p.78). The driving force on this system has to be generated mainly from the direct economically interested parties, i.e. the investors in passenger shipping field. Their proposals have to create the basis of government planning and intervention, to happen where and when appropriate. Therefore, this work will be concluded with some recommendations in this respect.


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