Vetting | Armand Kullau

New port tests NATO standards
In recent years, NATO has warned of Russia's use of hybrid tactics and economic influence to undermine Euro-Atlantic security, including threats to critical infrastructure. One way to penetrate critical infrastructure is through the use of offshore companies, which mask the true owners.

According to public records, the new Durres port project includes an offshore company registered in Cyprus, which in the past has had an administrative role in structures that have also involved sanctioned Russian entities. This company is currently listed in the documentation as part of the administrative structure of the Porto Romano project, a maritime infrastructure of strategic importance for a NATO member country, which raises questions about transparency and verification standards.

"Vetting"'s research shows that the entire process from design to the final phase for the tender for the construction of the New Port of Durres in Porto Romano could be an affair not only with consequences for the state budget, but could also jeopardize relations with NATO due to the lack of transparency from the Albanian government.

Pirro Vëngu left NATO out of Porto Romano
On October 28, 2025, at the press conference for the new Port of Durres, where the leaders of the Durres Port Authority were also present, Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku would declare that the Port of Durres has been a priority for the Albanian government.

"We have always asked that it be led by professionals who not only know transport, but also have the ability to negotiate with international forces, as the new port of Durrës is envisaged and is in the political will of the Albanian government to be a NATO base, a NATO base located in the heart of the Mediterranean and undoubtedly in Albania, as the most loyal ally of this extraordinary force, extraordinary community," Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku would declare.

Deputy Prime Minister Balluku's statements are contradictory because they do not match the initial official tender documents for the drafting of the detailed technical project of the new Integrated Commercial Port of Durrës in Porto Romano. In June 2021, the Durrës Port Authority, then under the leadership of Pirro Vëng, today the current Minister of Defense, would open the competition for this tender with a limit fund of 1,14 billion lek or 11 million euros.

Like most high-value tenders, the competition for this tender would be tainted as it would be marked with a red flag by “Openprocurement.al”, the AIS platform. According to the latter, the red flag represents suspicions of corruption, favoring the winning company of the tender by the APD. In the case of Porto Romano, all companies would be disqualified, with the winner automatically being the joint venture of foreign and Albanian companies “HASKONINGDHV NEDERLAND BV”, “ADEC ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY LLC”, “ABKONS” shpk, “TAULANT” and “GEO-ENG” shpk worth 952 million lek.
The propaganda that this would be a strategic tender for the Alliance would fall a few months after the tender was concluded, as former Director Vëngu had left NATO out of the master plan.

In September 2022, an additional 232 million lek would be added to the tender for the merger of the winning companies because a naval base for NATO would also have to be built, doubling the project development period to 15 months, from the initial 8 months.

According to the Durrës Port Authority, the infrastructure project intended for the docking of naval vessels and the yards in service for the Armed Forces did not meet the capacities required by NATO.
The document itself acknowledges that the capacities envisaged in the initial master plan did not meet the Alliance's requirements for accommodating Allied naval assets, including heavy tonnage ships such as destroyers. This means that, at the time of drafting and signing the initial contract, the project was not technically ready for use by NATO, despite public statements.

The tender document indicates that this was not reflected in the initial design and was only formalized through a contractual addendum during implementation.

"Vetting" contacted the central branch in the Netherlands of the company "Haskoning BV" to obtain information regarding the reasons why the infrastructure for NATO was not included in the master plan, a question that remained unanswered.

The Port Authority also had no comment regarding this fact.

According to Captain First Rank Artur Meçollari, this port has planning deficiencies.

"Porto Romano emerged as an alternative, at the moment the port of Durres was given. So, to free the port of Durres, another port was needed and the story of Porto Romano was invented, a project that was done without visibility. We do not have a feasibility study in hand. Then, after that, the prime minister, in order to give some kind of visibility, some kind of sustainability to Porto Romano, invented the story of the NATO port, of the NATO base in Porto Romano", declared former deputy chief of the Naval Force for "Vetting" Artur Meçollari.

According to Meçollari, a NATO approach to Porto Romano would give the port sustainability and feasibility. In fact, former Deputy Chief of the FD Meçollari is right that there is no feasibility study for the new port.

"Vetting" made an official request to the Durres Port Authority for a feasibility study for this project, but the Authority refuses to make the document available to us.

A similar concern has been raised by economic expert Zef Preçi, who states that in the official reports of the Durrës Port Authority there are no publications on investments.

"On the official website you find letters of training, trips, outings, but it says nothing about the financial report."

"How much profit is secured and how will it be invested? The same thing applies to the medium-term budget program, which foresees money, but which is more to keep some secret promise than to bring development, which is related to volumes of goods, which is related to the railway, which is related to the countries of the region," expert Preçi would declare to "Vetting".

Browsing public data, it appears that the Port Authority's Bid Evaluation Committee for the project design tender has favored the merger of the companies since "TAULANT" shpk and "GEO-ENG" shpk do not meet the criteria for annual turnover, which must be 458 million lek at least in one of the years 2018, 2019 or 2020.

This fact is revealed by the institution itself, which for the same reason that it disqualified the merger of the companies “ROGAN ASSOCIATES EL”, “MOFFAT & NICHOL” and “INFRAPLAN”, has not disqualified the group of winning companies. Regarding this fact, until the publication of this material, the Durrës Port Authority and the Dutch company “Royal Haskoning BV” did not give any comment.

New Port clashes government with Western allies
From the design tender to the tender for the construction of the New Port in Porto Romano, several changes would occur in the Public Procurement Law in 2024, which would directly determine the process for tenders and the construction of this port.

In June 2024, the Albanian government would authorize the Durrës Port Authority to directly negotiate and conclude consultancy agreements with the international Dutch company "Royal Haskoning DHV", within its field of competence, an area of ​​strategic interest for the processes of competition, contracting, construction and supervision of the new integrated port of Durrës in Porto-Romano.

So, the company that drafted the technical project would be assigned other processes, deciding on everything else and raising suspicions of conflicts of interest since the company that drafted the project would be part of the Bid Evaluation Committee for announcing the winners for the construction of the port.
What raises questions about this project is the fact that for this port to have large capacities, it must be connected to the railway, which it does not have. Beyond these problems, the Albanian government will have to make additional investments for this port to establish railway infrastructure.

This would be a grandiose project that would bring about an indirect clash between the European Union and the Albanian government. The European Commission’s latest 2025 report highlights the transitional provisions in the new Public Procurement Law, which authorizes central government public institutions to negotiate and conclude international consultancy agreements in areas of strategic interest. According to the European Union, this change in the Public Procurement Law closes off competition as it continues to raise concerns about its compatibility with the European Union model and the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

According to the report, in essence the tender documents create a common picture, Porto Romano has been treated as a strategic project at a political and geopolitical level, but this strategy has not been reflected from the beginning in the technical design and procurement procedures.

According to former Deputy Chief of Naval Forces Artur Meçollari, this project has brought disagreements between the European Union and the government.

"The European Union has contested the issue of the port of Durres, for the way it was tendered because it contradicts Article 73 of the Association-Stabilization Agreement. As such, these have led to the failure of the Porto Romano project so far and I am convinced that the Porto Romano project will never be realized, because it is not feasible and is not a project that will withstand time", said former Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces Meçollari.

He further adds that NATO has been studying Pashë Alimani for five years and Porto Romano has been rejected by them.

"NATO considers the current port of Durres as its gateway, not Porto Romano, despite what Prime Minister Edi Rama said that he would grant it as a concession. Even the European Union still sees the port of Durres as its gateway, not Porto Romano," said Meçollari.

The European Commission report emphasizes that despite official plans, no concrete steps have been taken to shift commercial activity from existing ports to Porto Romano, while the government has decided to finance the project through the state budget and not a public-private partnership.

Urban planner Artan Kaçani also has the same position as Meçollari regarding NATO's presence in the new port in Porto Romano.

"At the moment, NATO has not agreed to position itself in this type of port, due to the very fact of the seismic problems that exist there, but also due to the problems we mentioned a little earlier, the fuel field, which would make military defense very difficult in such conditions," urban planner Kaçani told "Vetting".

He continues that key infrastructure is missing, which is railway infrastructure and which should have been an asset provided by the Albanian state.

The Albanian government's planning approach raises questions about the project, when the area itself for the construction of the new Port has problems with high seismic activity.

"They tried a few years ago to build the concrete and road platform, they stuck 20-meter columns and the pilot columns were swallowed by the ground. The columns have disappeared. Here we understand that the merging of tectonic plates is not a joke. It is something very serious, which tomorrow will put all investments at risk," said urban planner Kaçani.

According to urban planner Kaçani, the construction firms that have undertaken the construction of the port of Durres are already eroding the northern part of the Durres hill, to find an increasingly stable foundation on which to place the quay and the port entrance.

Porto Romano, who is the company with Russian connections?
One month after the Albanian government authorized the Dutch company "Royal Haskoning DHV" to carry out all procedures, in July 2024 the Durrës Port Authority would open the tender with a limited procedure with a limit fund of 39,3 billion lek or 393 million euros for the construction of the new port in Porto Romano, phase 1. The tender would be canceled as there would be no favorable offer.

At the end of December 2024, the Port Authority would reopen the tender, but the two-stage competition would be accompanied by complaints and objections from international competitors due to disqualifications by the Bid Evaluation Committee.

Disqualifications of companies with international reputations have raised changes for a predetermined competition.

In the first phase, the company "Jan De Nul nv" was disqualified, which filed a complaint because the lack of documentation for the projects it has implemented cannot be a pretext for a company that has implemented established international projects.

The biggest problem is the fact that the Port Authority's Bid Evaluation Commission has refused to review the complaint because according to the law, 0,5% of the tender value must be paid to review a complaint, so the consortium represented by "Jan De Nul nv" had to pay 2 million euros to have the complaint heard. The complaint was also rejected by the Public Procurement Commission, which was under the direction of the person accused by SPAK, Jonaid Myzyri, now suspended from duty. The latter has not accepted the complaint, despite the company raising the problem that such a payment within 2 days requires time for approvals and, according to the company, it was aware of making this payment after the qualification phase and not in the pre-qualification phase.

According to expert Preçi, the legal framework should be respected as it is, but complaints should not be overlooked.

"It is true what you say that it is a large amount, but it is unblocked after reviewing the complaint. This does not mean that the Public Procurement Commission and the Public Procurement and Intelligence Services Agency do not verify the motives of the complaint and do not make decisions," declared expert Preçi regarding the disqualification case.

The Dutch company "Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV" and another company have passed the second phase of the tender, which, like the French company, was disqualified on the pretext that it had not made the equivalence of licenses, while the Dutch claim that this would have been done before signing the contract in case of winning the tender.

The Dutch company did not stop there, but sent a letter to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, the Durrës Port Authority, and informed the Dutch ambassador to Albania about the tender issue.

The disqualification of the competition and leaving only one company, "Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited", until the end of the competition, making it the automatic winner, has raised questions about the ownership and transparency that critical infrastructure projects require.

According to expert Preçi, the European Union has established rules regarding critical infrastructure, the need for a "screening" mechanism, a mechanism for reviewing investments of this nature, where the port is part of the country's critical investments.

"These elements are missing in our country and continue at the same pace. This creates opportunities and benefits for someone suspected and who is under investigation or will be investigated soon and at the same time does not guarantee the quality of the public work," said expert Preçi.

But this project has become a double-edged sword as it could bring problems not only with the state budget, but also with regional security.

Questions about companies previously linked to Russian companies or entities sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom would arise with the companies in the second phase of the tender for the new port.

On April 4, 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Balluku would publish on the official page of the "Meta" platform (Facebook) that two companies had passed the second phase of the construction of the new port, the Dutch "Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors bv" and the Greek company headquartered in the Netherlands "Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited".

But as we mentioned above, the Dutch would be disqualified and the company "Archirodon" would remain in the competition, which at the end of January 2026 would be automatically declared the winner as the only company left in the competition.

The publication of the company names by Deputy Prime Minister Balluku raises transparency issues because it is said that the company is Greek with headquarters in the Netherlands, while the company submitted for the tender has a branch in Cyprus. This country is known for the use of offshore structures, which, in various international cases, have also been used by sanctioned entities, while the identification of the ultimate owners requires higher levels of verification.

According to former Deputy Chief of Naval Forces Meçollari, the stories with "offshore" could prove problematic.
"This makes me doubt that we actually have Albanian rulers here because I see a kind of phenomenon where we have "offshore" companies, there is more stability and resistance, so as not to disrupt the status quo, and this leaves you with doubts," said Dr. Meçollari about the offshore case.

Companies in areas like Malta and Cyprus raise questions about ownership, but also about investments in critical infrastructure such as airports, energy, and ports.

As we mentioned above, the company "Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited" is not in the Netherlands, but has a branch in Cyprus.

The corporate structure of the company involved in the project is located in Cyprus, where individuals in management or administrative roles have previously been linked to Russian companies and entities sanctioned by the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom. While they do not constitute evidence of a legal violation, they place the project at the center of the need for increased transparency and in-depth verification.

According to public records, the Cypriot company “CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED” appears in the official documents of the Cyprus Companies Registry as the secretary of the company that won the tender for the construction of the new port in Durres. This role according to Cypriot law is formal and legal, it does not imply ownership or economic control over the company, but includes full access to its legal structure and administrative functioning.

Public records show that Cymanco Services Limited acted as corporate secretary for companies where Albert Avdolyan is listed as a director or associated figure. Avdolyan is a Russian oligarch included in the European Union sanctions list in February 2025.

In several international investigative reports documenting suspected corruption and embezzlement schemes involving Ukrainian oligarchs with strong Russian connections, “CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED” appears. According to these sources, CYMANCO appears in administrative and legal chains used in offshore structures, linked to figures such as Dmytro Firtash, sanctioned by the United States for Russia-related activities, including relations with organized crime and support for Russian influence in Ukraine, as well as Mykola Martynenko, a former Ukrainian deputy investigated in Switzerland and Ukraine for embezzlement, bribery and money laundering.

Reports published by “crime.hab.media” indicate that these schemes allegedly diverted funds from strategic Ukrainian state-owned enterprises, including the “United Mining and Chemical Company” (UMCC) and the “Odessa Port Plant”, causing losses exceeding an estimated $13 million. The funds were channeled through a network of shell companies in Cyprus, Austria and Switzerland, benefiting industrial interests linked to Firtash’s titanium business in the period before 2014.

According to data published in international databases, “CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED” has also served as a secretary to “LUKOIL SECURITIES LIMITED”, which is owned by the Lukoil group. The latter is one of the largest Russian oil corporations, which has been the subject of international attention due to its ties to the Russian state and its involvement in sanctions regimes following Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Although not every entity associated with the Lukoil brand is automatically sanctioned, corporate and structural ties with this group are considered sensitive from a security and transparency perspective.

Finally, in February 2025, businessman Michel Litvak would be sanctioned because the West considers him part of the circle of businessmen who economically support strategic sectors of the Russian Federation, in a context directly related to the war in Ukraine.

Public records show that in this case too, "CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED" acted as corporate secretary in a company where Litvak was registered as a director, which places this service provider in the focus of verifications on compliance with the sanctions regime.

Although this company has severed relations with sanctioned entities, the fact that the same company continues to be used as secretary by “Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited”, a company involved in procedures for strategic infrastructure projects such as the new port of Durres, raises legitimate questions about due diligence measures and legal risk management.

These questions take on additional importance in the context of changes to the European Union sanctions regime during 2025-2026, where the new packages have strengthened the prohibition of indirect circumvention of sanctions, expanded companies' responsibility for "due diligence" and placed particular emphasis on the role of intermediaries and offshore structures.

"Vetting" spoke with NATO media contact Noelke Paul about the company's connections, which are in the final phase of the tender for the new port of Durres, and about security issues.

In response, NATO stated that regarding our request for the construction of the new port, regarding security protocols, we should address this issue to Albanian institutions.

"Vetting" contacted the Ministry of Defense, which stated that this issue is not related to its competencies, passing the responsibility to other institutions, while the new port will have a military base under its jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, the institution that carried out the tender, the Durrës Port Authority, has not had any official reaction to "Vetting" regarding the ownership of the Cypriot company and the connections of "CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED".

Even the institution that has taken over the monitoring of this project, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, which has the Durrës Port Authority under its control, did not comment on the ownership and suspicious connections of the company in the role of secretariat.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Belinda Balluku is under investigation for corruption by SPAK after allegedly favoring various companies in tenders of the Albanian Road Authority. For several weeks, the Special Prosecution has requested the Albanian Parliament to lift the immunity of the Deputy Prime Minister to enable her arrest, but this process is being dragged out by the Immunity and Mandates Council.

To obtain more information, "Vetting" directly contacted the Dutch headquarters of "Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company Limited" regarding its links to the company "CYMANCO SERVICES LIMITED", and whether it had any connections to sanctioned entities, but as of the publication of this material, we have not received any response from the company.