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  • 2008 November 7

    New roads and depth of Liepaja port

    The port of Liepaja created in 1990-ies from scratch at the territory of former USSR naval base is the third largest port of Latvia in terms of cargo throughput today. Oil products and loose bulk cargo from CIS countries, mainly Byelorussia, account for a half of its turnover. Ivo Kolins, Head of Liepaja Special Economic Zone Investment and Marketing Department tells PortNews IAA about perspectives of the port development. 

     

    - Mr. Kolins, what is the dynamics of Liepaja port throughput?

     

    - In January-September of the current year, the port of Liepaja handled 3.3 million tonnes of cargo (+12%, year-on-year). The port of Liepaja has a growth trend from 2006. The port’s throughput is mainly formed by grain and grain products (30%), crude and oil products (20%), ferrous metal goods (14%) and timber (11%).

     

    - Where is the core of cargo handled in the port from?

     

    - Unlike many ports of the Baltic Sea, the port of Liepaja is focused mainly on its own cargo flow. Cargo delivered from Latvian enterprises account for 40% of the ports throughput. The first place is taken by Joint Stock Company Liepajas Metalurgs supplying 600,000 tones o metal and rolled metal goods per year.  The rest is transit cargo mainly from CIS countries with Byelorussia accounting for some 30%. The majority of Byelorussian cargo is oil products and metal products.

     

    - A number of projects on construction of new terminals are under development in Liepaja. What shall one expect in this sphere in the nearest future? 

     

    - For the moment being, there is no specialized container terminal in the port hence the share of containerized cargo is very low: during three quarters of 2008 the port handled only 32,000 tonnes of containerized cargo. According to Liepaja SEZ development plan, two container terminals capable of handling some 390 TEU per year are to be built by 2017. The project is under development and negotiations are being carried out with strategic investors.

    Liepaja Oil Terminal has developed a project on construction of oil terminal capable of handling 1.2 million tonnes per year.  At the background of an economic crisis it is difficult to make forecasts and to say when implementation is to become possible. 

    Liepaja SEZ and Liepajas Osta LM carry out joint work on expansion of terminals handling loose cargo and metal. 

    A new terminal capable of handling 550,000 tonnes of cement per year was launched in June 2008. It was built by an international company CEMEX, which opens a new cement plant in Latvia. 

    Prom the territory point of view, the port has good opportunities for development – there are two unbuilt grounds with total area of 50 hectares. To build a new terminal here a strategic investor is needed to be in charge of construction and land development as well.

     

    - What are the port’s plans as regards infrastructure development?

     

    - From 2006, the port has been developing a very important project known as “Approaches to the port of Liepaja” and aimed at the port’s transport infrastructure development.  Within the framework of the project’s first phase a new railway approach to the port was built by February 2008.  It has doubled the port’s annual capacity from 3.5 million tonnes to 7 million tonnes.

    The other part of the project is to create a road approach to the port in order to link the port with Riga-Liepaja highway. The project is being implemented jointly with the Cohesion Fund of the European Union. The new road is to raise efficiency of cargo traffic and to eliminate obstacles for suppliers. The work is to bestarted in 2009.

    The second key investment project is deepening of the port’s fairway to 12 meters, which is to be started in early 2009 and to be completed in the second half of 2010.  As of todaym the port of Liepaja is the shallowest port in Latvia. Its maximal depth is 10.5 meters. Its deepening to 12 meters will make it possible for PANAMAX and HANDYMAX vessels to enter this international port.

    In 2008, the Board of Liepaja SEZ supported by the Ministry of Transport of Latvian Republic allocated LTL 7.78 million for construction of railway and road approaches, and LTL 4.6 mln – for port deepening.

     

    -Russian Government focuses on redirection of cargo flows from the Baltic ports to Russia. Will the decrease of Russian transit influence the throughputof Liepaja? 

     

    - The influence will not be a considerable one. Russian transit accounts for only 10% of the port’s throughput (loose bulk and scrap metal).  This share is the same for a number of years already.  So I think Russian policy will not significantly influence the port of Liepaja, unlike other Baltic ports, where Russian transit accounts for a higher share.

    Interviewed by Maria Favorskaya

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