The priority of the new head of the Port of Klaipėda – sustainable development of the port
The new managing director of the state enterprise Klaipėda State Seaport Authority (KSSA), Algis Latakas, will aim at guaranteeing the port parameters corresponding to local and transit cargo shipment needs. He emphasizes environment protection as one of the priorities of the activity.
"Ambitious objectives are raised to the new head of the Port of Klaipėda and the most important of them is to guarantee a harmonious growth of the port by reacting to the questions of pollution more actively and coordinating the interests of the port and the city of Klaipėda more coherently. The head will also have to take care of long-term competitiveness of the port by guaranteeing fluent implementation of the projects, provided in general plan of the port of Klaipėda, and efficient usage of investments to the infrastructure", – emphasized the minister of transport and communications, Jaroslavas Narkevičius, when presenting the new head of the port of Klaipėda.
A. Latakas began directing the state enterprise Klaipėda State Seaport Authority from this Monday. He says he will continue the planned activity when implementing the ambitious vision and mission of KSSA, when creating the added value to the state, by making conditions to the users of the port and all transport system of the country to create it, he will also guarantee that the tasks and objectives, raised by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania, are implemented.
"The results of the port of Klaipėda have tendentiously stayed good for some time. The synergy of the port’s authority and the companies working in it allows successful competition between the ports working in the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea and allows being one of the most productive of them – this direction has to be followed to further successfully creating the added value both to the city and the state. The port’s authority has a clearly formulated vision and mission, its objective is to do its best to make the port of Klaipėda modern, competitive and regularly developed. I believe that after concentrating the powers of the port’s community, by guaranteeing the Government’s support, actively communicating with the institutions and society of the city, implementing good practice, we will be further accompanied by success", – states the managing director of the state enterprise Klaipėd State Seaport Authority, A. Latakas.
According to him, the port’s authority will meet some challenges – General plan was confirmed, ambitious plans for development are provided, at the moment, especially many significant port development projects are being implemented in the port. According to A. Latakas, when developing the port, it is especially important to seek that the development corresponds to modern and forecasted future needs related to water and land transport, the port is attractive to cargo carriers, safe for navigation and as much environment friendly as possible. The new head emphasizes the importance of active collaboration with the institutions of the city and bordering communities when solving relevant questions of development, industrial pollution and conversion. He states that he will aim at encouraging the implementation of modern technologies and usage of renewable energy resources in the port’s activity.
"The port of Klaipėda takes a historically settled but unthankful geographical state with reference to the city. Some port load complexes are away from the residential houses less than 80 metres. The community of the city is very sensitive due to the dust, noise and smells produced by the port activity. To improve the state, it is necessary to prepare pollution prevention and monitoring plans and to implement them. It is necessary to look for, find and apply the most advanced closed-type load technologies, to pile dusty loads in the embankments further from residential districts. It is necessary to arrange effective sound and dust monitoring stations, to actively communicate with the communities of residents and the authority of the city."
A. Latakas began working as the managing director of the port’s authority after winning the selection. 13 candidates pretended to the position of the head of the port of Klaipėda in the contest announced by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.