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“The year has been fantastic,” says Algis Latakas, Managing Director of the Port Authority, reviewing last year’s results. On Thursday, the management held a remote press conference.
A. Latakas was pleased that the coronavirus did not affect the organization of work in the port, no company became the focus of the pandemic, work in stevedore companies and shipments were not interrupted. It is true that shipping was affected by the pandemic. As a result, cruise ship shipping was stopped last year, so no cruise of the planned 51 reached the port city.
“We hope that the maritime transport of cruise ships will recover, but maybe not completely, with 55 ships currently registered. We expect some of them to come, we have such indications from the shipping lines,” said A. Latakas.
Algis Latakas
The Port Authority continues to invest 48 million last year. euros. Projects worth 55 million are planned for this year. euros. It is planned to invest 500 million euros by 2024.
One of the largest projects is the reconstruction of the docks, as well as the deepening of the shipping channel to 15 meters.
Fertilizer handling increased
Reviewing the stowage results, Artūras Drungilas, Director of Marketing and General Affairs of the Port Authority, stated that a record 47.7 million tons has already been calculated. tons of turnover. The latest business statistics are still traveling, so there will be corrections, but 48 million. tons of cargo will not be overloaded.
“Visible above 3 percent. Growth. The main reason is the large investments we make, the state and private port companies, because the port of Klaipeda has the largest offer of different types of cargo terminals in the region, no ports it has so much. If there are only two cargoes in ports like Primorsk: crude oil and petroleum products, the cargoes have been drastically reduced and we are not dependent on one type of cargo. Looking at the whole pie, we can say 85 percent. the turnover depends on six load groups “, – said A.Drungilas. According to him, four of the six manipulation groups were at record levels.
Last year, a record amount of fertilizer was handled in the port of Klaipeda – 15.4 million. euros. There were a variety of them: liquid, bulk, and packaged.
“What do I bring? As a result, the contracts were signed at quite competitive prices. The main sellers, the Belarusian and Lithuanian fertilizer plants have good contracts at good and acceptable prices on the market. The prices of agricultural products have increased. The growth was 35 percent. by the end of the year. The outlook is good for farmers, prices are stable in terms of costs, ”said the manager.
The record grain harvest resulted in a large volume of this load. The management of liquefied natural gas was also maintained in the mountains.
Buy less
As in all ports, container handling fell last year.
“All container ports suffer quite a lot of losses. Containers are containers where consumer goods are transported. People locked up at home earn less, consume less and have less turnover. It is also decreasing due to the redistribution of containers in the ports of the Sea Baltic in the first quarter of 2019 ”, said A. Drungilas.
Last year, the handling of petroleum products fell in all ports due to the pandemic. This has also been affected by the stagnation of the tourism sector, with fewer planes and fewer people traveling.
“The demand for oil products has fallen dramatically, prices have fallen. Consumption is declining, factories are operating at 60-70 percent. Capacity. We also have a good knowledge: Klaipedos Nafta imported a significant part of a new cargo, oil crude, to Belarus. This is not a traditional cargo, so far it has only been imported through Būtingė. “Klaipedos Nafta has gained experience and reputation in handling this cargo,” said the manager pleased.
J. Andriejauskaitės / 15min nuotr./Artūras Drungilas
In short, A. Drungilas was pleased that the port of Klaipeda ranked fourth among its neighbors in terms of cargo volume.
It is true that, despite the joy of the port of Klaipeda due to the record cargo handling, according to A. Drungilas, in 11 months, which were affected by the pandemic, the market in the Baltic Sea ports contracted by 33 million . heaps. It has declined across Europe. The pandemic affected the continent’s 26 main ports, from Valencia to Rotterdam.
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