Komarno is located in the main agricultural area of Slovakia, but the logistic position makes it more exciting: it can be reached via waterway from any place of the world, and provides a low-cost distribution for the European market.
Chile winemakers not rarely export wines to Europe via big, specialized wine tanker ships. The wine itself is bottled in Europe (e.g. in German wine growing region Rhein-Pfalz, reached on the River Rhein) and distributed from here. They save the ocean-cross shipping cost of bottles and other packages, and some wharehousing costs at the target market.
The "Chile-modell" can be usefull for other food companies: transport in bulk, and manage your logistics (packeging, wharehousing, distribution) inside the EU - eventually in a low-cost Eastern European location.
Rheine-Main-Danube Canal
The Rheine-Main-Danube Canal provides a low-cost water way to reach Eastern Europe. The Danube river ports and their environment can be considered as distribution centers in this model. The river ports in Slovakia and Hungary are closed to Western European markets and provides good infrastructure.
The port of Komarno, Slovakia provides 6,600 m2 wharehouses (for 33-50€/m2/year rental fee), 26,000 m2 open storage area, and can manage the custom clearence. The port has excellent railway connections, but even more: the extended Hungarian motorways (at the other side of the River) connect Komarno to Western markets.
EU motorways, 2011Komarno is a little town at the bank of Danube. In fact, the Slovakian Komarno at the left side of the River and the Hungarian Komárom at the right side of it, are the same town, with 70,000 citizens. The Komarno region of Slovakia is also the main agricultural area, so it's no problem to find any food processing related local supplier.
