North macedonia Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in north macedonia, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Transportation
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Overview

North Macedonia is strategically situated in the center of the Balkan Peninsula at the intersection of several road and railway links.  Two Pan-European Transportation Corridors, Corridor 8 (east-west) and Corridor 10 (north-south) pass through North Macedonia.  Corridor 8 consists of the E-65 road from Varna, Bulgaria, on the Black Sea to Durres, Albania, on the Adriatic via Sofia and Skopje.  Corridor 10 consists of the E-75 road from Athens, Greece to Salzburg, Austria, via Skopje, Belgrade, and Zagreb.

For rail infrastructure, North Macedonia’s priority is to complete a rail link to Bulgaria and eventually complete a rail link with Albania. 

North Macedonia has two international airports, Skopje and Ohrid, both of which are concessioned to the Turkish operator TAV and are open to international air traffic.  Since the lifting of COVID-19 public health restrictions, most flights have been re-established according to airline flight schedules and both airports have seen passenger growth over the past year.

Opportunities

North Macedonia aims to position itself as a key crossroad in the pan-European Corridor 8 (east-west) and Corridor 10 (north-south) inland transportation routes across Southeastern Europe.  When it comes to shipping goods by land versus by sea, these surface transportation corridors cannot compete with alternative maritime routes on price alone.  However, North Macedonia believes it can capitalize on its advantage in terms of distance, compared to much longer sea routes, to establish competitive transit routes across its territory.  Many segments of the road are in poor condition due to shoddy construction or lack of maintenance, while others require additional capacity because of traffic growth.  As the government looks to invest heavily in improving roads and railway links, there are ample business opportunities for U.S. companies.

U.S. companies can participate in infrastructure development in the areas of construction equipment and materials, tollbooth equipment, electronic data processing equipment, traffic monitoring, project management services, and telecommunications equipment.

Multiple foreign airline companies and several charter companies fly into North Macedonia’s main airport near Skopje (details can be found at the airport website at https://skp.airports.com.mk/.  Foreign carriers fly to Skopje from Vienna, Zurich, Zagreb, Belgrade, Warsaw, Athens, and Istanbul, among others.  U.S. companies have bid for contracts in the field of air transportation services, airport equipment and construction, and air navigation and control systems. 

Resources

http://www.mtc.gov.mk/

https://roads.org.mk/en/

https://tavairports.com/en-EN/airport-operations/north-macedonia

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