German company EMS Shipping & Trading takes the agreement for the Port of Durrës to Arbitration

 The New Prject of Durrës Port

 EMS Shipping & Trading, a German company, has initiated legal proceedings against the Albanian state in the ICSID Court of Arbitration in Washington. The lawsuit, filed on April 7th, is related to a dispute over the concession for the Port of Durrës. Since 2013, EMS has held the concession contract for the East Terminal of the port, which allows the company to load and unload ships. However, EMS opposes the new port transformation project that would require them to relocate their operations to Porto-Romano. The German company claims that the continuation of its concessionary activity is uncertain without the new port, Euronews reports.

EMS has 25 years remaining on its 35-year contract and made profits of approximately 1.3 million euros in 2021. If successful, the company's compensation claim from the trial could be in the tens of millions of euros. Before resorting to arbitration, EMS expressed concerns about the port's transformation in a letter to the Albanian government, the Assembly, and the German and EU diplomatic missions in Albania.