Croatia's advantageous geographical position allows the development of transport infrastructure and transport as sectors that make major contribution to Croatian overall economic and social development. The current situation in Croatian transport is not satisfactory, especially with regard to ports, maritime and river transport and railways.
The potential of the Port of Rijeka, which has an extraordinary geographical position and excellent prerequisites for the transhipment of all kinds of freight (general, bulk, container, liquid, ro-ro, live cattle etc.), and that of other Croatian ports is insufficiently used.
The combined transport share of overall cargo transport is very small. Being one of the most modern types of transport and, in addition, environmentally friendly, this sector should be developed within the shortest time so Croatia can integrate into an already developed European system of combined transport.
The road and railway infrastructures are not equally developed in all parts of Croatia. Even though great effort has been put in to build new roads in the last several years, substantial investment is still necessary in terms of both the existing and new infrastructure, with a special emphasis on better links between the coast and the inland.
Also, Croatian Railways have purchased eight new tilting trains (as part of the project for the modernisation of Croatian Railways in the period 2003-2007), which have been running between Zagreb and Split as of June 2004.
It should be noted that the Republic of Croatia should use its favourable geographical position also in air transport, because it is one of the Mediterranean countries that lie at the intersection of air routes to South, East and Central Europe. There are seven airports in the Republic of Croatia (Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Rijeka, Pula and Osijek) used for international traffic. There are also three landing facilities (Brač, Lošinj and Vrsar) used for the arrival and dispatch of smaller commercial aircraft.
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