Fiat to Ship Most of Its Serbia-Made Cars Through Montenegro

Fiat SpA (F) will export more than 90 percent of its Serbian car production through the port of Bar in Montenegro under an agreement with shipper Grimaldi Group and a local cargo specialist, the transport ministry said.

After the start of serial production in the second quarter of its new model, a larger version of the redesigned 500 subcompact, some 90,000 units will be shipped through Luka Bar (LUBA) in the first year, with a gradual increase to 200,000 vehicles in three years, Montenegro’s transportation ministry said in an e-mailed statement.

The port will also handle imports of car parts from Italy for the Fiat plant in Serbia, the ministry said after the accord was signed in Bar yesterday between Fiat’s shipper Grimaldi Group, Montecargo AD (MORG), the local provider of rail cargo services and Luka Bar.

Fiat’s facility in Serbia is a joint venture with the Serbian government, created when the Italian carmaker took over the now defunct Zastava Automobili in Kragujevac, central Serbia, to become a 67 percent owner of Fiat Automobili Srbija.

To contact the reporter on this story: Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net