The 4th ENERGY BARGE business-to-business (B2B) meeting on bioenergy logistics took place on 5 February in Vukovar, Croatia. The event that was jointly organised by the Croatian Wood Cluster and the Port Authority Vukovar started with a site visit at the company Spačva d.d. in the city of Vinkovci. The site visit took place within the framework of the so-called bioenergy site delegation exchange programme, which aims to facilitate learning interactions with good practice locations in the Danube region – like Spačva d.d. – and actors from the biomass and Danube logistics sectors. Ivan Perković, board member of Spačva d.d., guided the visitors through the production halls of the company.

© FNR

Spačva d.d. with its 860 employees is one of the largest parquet (400,000 m²/a) and veneer producers (up to 9 million m²/a) in Croatia. 80% of the products are made of Slavonian oak, which is of high economic importance for the region as well as for the entire Croatian wood industry. 55,000 t of pellets and briquettes are produced from wood residues annually. Half of the produced amounts are exported. The largest importer is Italy. The transport of pellets and briquettes via inland waterways has not been an option so far as the produced quantities are considered to be too low. 

© FNR

Before starting the second part of the workshop, a short stop was made at the Port of Vukovar. The Port of Vukovar has recorded a slight upward trend regarding the volume of goods handled in recent years, which currently amounts to around 500,000 t/a. In search of new goods that could be transhipped in the port, the Port of Vukovar is particularly interested in biomass cargo. 

© left: FNR; right: Port Authority Vukovar

A total of 80 representatives of the biomass/bioenergy and Danube logistics sectors from Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the event. The 4th ENERGY BARGE B2B matchmaking event was successfully held during the afternoon session. A total of 59 personal conversations were arranged to facilitate first contacts between potential business partners. The next ENERGY BARGE B2B event will be held in Straubing, Germany, on 20 March 2019. Please see the event website for further information and registration.