Liepaja City Construction Board commissioned two new warehouses in the Port of Liepaja
On March 9, 2022, the Liepaja City Construction Board commissioned two new warehouses in the Port of Liepaja. The total area of the warehouses is 6018.2 m 2 , and the company LSEZ SIA Ekers Stividors LP plans to store there a cargo of renewable energy sources - wood pellets, which is a relatively new type of cargo in the Port of Liepaja. In total, in February 2022, the entrepreneurs of the Port of Liepaja handled 727,856.98 tons of various cargoes, of which the largest cargo turnover accounts to the bulk cargo group - 501.5 thousand. tons, the cargoes, shipped by the regular ferry line on the route Liepaja-Travemünde (Germany), and the Liepaja-Gdansk container feeder line which continues to produce good results. In total, 148 ships were serviced in February, 3635 passengers arrived and departed.
In February, the volumes of bulk cargo accounted for 69% of the overall cargo turnover. The largest cargo throughput, as previously, was in the segment of cereals (335.6 thousand tons), the renewable energy resources (92.5 thousand tons) and the construction materials (41.4 thousand tons). The turnover of breakbulk cargoes amounted to 175.0 thousand tons, whereas the liquid cargo terminals handled 51.3 thousand tons or 7% of the overall cargo flow.
“February 2022 and the first two months of the year taken together show that close cooperation between entrepreneurs, the Liepaja SEZ Authority, the local government and the governmental institutions has made it possible to ensure a stable cargo flow with positive dynamic, diversification of cargo types, attraction of new cargoes and further targeted increase in the share of the local cargoes. Unfortunately, on February 24, the “rules of the game” changed significantly, new circumstances appeared to which we need ourselves to get adjusted and which will definitely affect operations of the Port of Liepaja.
You need to be prepared for different scenarios of the development of events,” says Uldis Hmieļevskis, Acting CEO of the Liepaja SEZ. Entrepreneurs working in the Port of Liepaja do not hide the fact that the situation is difficult. However, previous economic, financial and geopolitical crises have taught us to adapt and to creatively look for new opportunities. Āris Ozoliņš, Chairman of the Board of LSEZ SIA Terrabalt, Member of the Council of the Latvian Stevedoring Association, admits that it is good that entrepreneurs have already diversified their cargoes. “We have a lot of cargoes that are not related to Russia. Three large companies supply the wood chips that we ship to Scandinavia. The share of the local cargo in the ferry traffic is also relatively high.”
Uldis Hmieļevskis, Acting CEO of the Liepaja SEZ, emphasizes that the work will move in the right direction, namely, maximum attention will be paid to increasing the share of local cargoes and to developing industrial export oriented manufacturing in Liepaja.
