Business news

Klaipeda port to invest in infrastructure to attract freight from Belarus

Photo courtesy of portofklaipeda.lt

MINSK, 30 September (BelTA) – The Klaipeda port will invest in infrastructure to attract freight from Belarus, BelTA learned from Vidmantas Paukste, Director for Infrastructure, Acting Director General of the Klaipeda State Seaport Authority, at a Belarusian-Lithuanian transport forum on 30 September.

Vidmantas Paukste remarked the Klaipeda port is one of the top 5 ports in the Baltic Sea in terms of freight turnover. The indicator rises by an average of 7% every year. The fact that it is a multimodal port makes it different from neighbors. Freight from Belarus grows larger every year. While in 2013 the port transshipped 9 million tonnes of freight, now the figure is close to 15 million tonnes per annum.

Vidmantas Paukste said: “Despite these figures the Klaipeda State Seaport Authority and the government have decided to make investments in order to grow the freight further, in order to enable conditions for our partners and friends from Belarus.”

In his words, the investment program for the next four years is very ambitious. It includes the construction of terminals and harbor deepening among other things.

“Our attention is now focused on our ability to handle all the largest vessels that can enter the Baltic Sea,” Vidmantas Paukste added.

The Klaipeda port is the northernmost ice-free port on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. It is an important transport node of Lithuania and connects transportation links by sea, by land, and by rail. In 2018 the port handled a record high amount of freight – 46.6 million tonnes.

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks