German Albanian Logistics Agency (GALA) has been part of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) programme since 2015 as shipping agent and full logistics supplier.
Now, five years later, the 105-kilometer-long pipeline connects Albania and Italy as part of the Southern Gas Corridor.
This is the most extensive project in the logistics company’s history. In the past five years, Durres-based GALA provided agency and logistics services for more than two thirds of the vessels involved in building the pipeline. In numbers, this amounts to 36 ships, 87 port calls and 849 crew changes – including accommodation for seafarers.
The agency also managed a significant number of oversize transports with trucks and vessels – within Albania and beyond its borders.
“Working together with several of the most important players in the industry and meeting their expectations to the fullest extent has been a very pleasing and valuable experience for us.” says GALA’s managing director Fation Dervishi.
GALA is a member of the German EMS-Fehn-Group. Working hand in hand, further companies of the group have significantly contributed to the TAP project. EMS Albanian Port Operator (EMS APO), for example, provided services and its East Terminal in the port of Durres. There, in Albania’s most important harbour, a total of 145,000 tonnes of project cargo was handled in the course of the programme – the major part of it being 135,000 tonnes of pipes.
Another member of the group, EMS Chartering, gave support by helping to handle the cargo. “For us, the TAP project has been an outstanding team effort, especially strengthening our position as a full-service logistics
supplier in the Balkans.” says EMS-Fehn-Group’s CEO Manfred Müller.