BelKaliy, a Belarusian potash producer may redirect its cargo shipment from the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda to the neighboring ports. In particular, a Chinese ship, which was due in Klaipeda on February 20, was redirected by BelKaliy, freight owner to already to Ventspils port of Latvia. The reason the lack of clean sandy sediment at the port of Klaipeda, unsuitable for Panamax class ships, RZD-Partner.Ru reports, citing the Klaipedos Juru Kroviniu Kompanija (Klasco, Lithuania), a Lithuanian stevedore, member of Achemos Grupe.
"We’re afraid that BelKaliy may return to the previous scheme, when the China-India-bound Panamax vessels, would call at Ventspils, while smaller ships were loaded in Klaipeda”, Lietuvos Zinios quoted a Klasco’s representative as saying.
"There might be a much worse option. BelKaliy could leave Klaipeda at all, because it is not convenient for him to operate at the two ports. Then, as well Klasco as Klaipeda would realize they had lost the Belarusian commodities ", said Juozas Benetis, acting CEO of Klasco.
Last week the Board of Klasco informed Eligijus Masiulis, the Minister of Communications and Transport that allowed vessels draft at the harborage is as much as 12.7m less than that of declared by Klaipeda port.
Klaipeda port is the northernmost ice-free port on the East coast of the Baltic Sea, the largest transport hub of the Republic of Lithuania, which combines sea and land routes. As of now there are 17 stevedores operating at the port, as well as ship repair and shipbuilding companies, providing the full range of services related to marine business and handling of cargoes. Throughput of Klaipeda port for January-December 2009 shrank by 6.3 percent from the same period of 2008, to almost 27.866 million tons.
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