SSG No 20 - Shipgaz
SSG No 20 - Shipgaz
SSG No 20 - Shipgaz
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
PORTs & maRiTimE lOGisTiCs<br />
The container terminal of the Klaipeda Terminal Group.<br />
transit on the rise<br />
in Lithuania<br />
The cargo turnover of Klaipeda State<br />
Seaport is rising, because the port<br />
handles primarily Lithuanian goods.<br />
The latter accounted for 15.8 million tons<br />
out of the 23.6 million tons handled last<br />
year. The port will be able to cope with an<br />
annual turnover growth of eight per cent<br />
over the next ten years. This means that<br />
the port’s capacity could rise up to 45 million<br />
tons, but that would be the maximum<br />
that the port can handle.<br />
Lithuania<br />
According to Sigitas Dobilinskas, the Director<br />
of Klaipeda State Seaport, the port is<br />
dominated by Lithuanian capital unlike,<br />
for instance, the Port of Tallinn, which is<br />
dominated by Russian capital. Therefore<br />
the director cannot say if the quantity of<br />
Russian goods is increasing in Klaipeda<br />
because or regardless of it.<br />
In the years of preparation of the K2<br />
Project (Klaipeda and Kaliningrad) the<br />
quantity of Russian goods doubled in Klaipeda,<br />
but still remained low: over three<br />
years it rose from 843,000 tons to 1.4 million<br />
tons. The political coat that was put<br />
on the K2 Project rather interferes with<br />
than helps to implement this positive idea.<br />
Klaipeda and Kaliningrad are both far from<br />
Moscow and other places and Belarus with<br />
its tariffs is also in the way. Mr Dobilinskas<br />
does not consider the project to be very<br />
promising mainly because of this political<br />
interpretation.<br />
Mineral fertilisers (29 per cent), ro-ro<br />
cargo (29 per cent) and oil products (17 per<br />
cent) rose last year. The growth rate of various<br />
classes of goods accelerated further this<br />
year. The cargo turnover rose 16.4 per cent<br />
in the first nine months of the year, while<br />
the quantity of fertilisers handled rose 48<br />
per cent, that of containers rose 44 per cent<br />
and that of liquid fertilisers rose 42 per<br />
cent year on year.<br />
Viking runs, Mercury does not<br />
In cooperation with port operators and<br />
Lithuanian Railways the port has launched<br />
container trains in order to optimise the<br />
logistics chain. Viking runs three times a<br />
week to Odessa in 55 hours. However, the<br />
Mercury route from Kaliningrad to Minsk<br />
and Moscow over Klaipeda is rather virtual<br />
– the railway, trains and tariffs are there,<br />
but containers are not carried.<br />
58 sCandinavian sHiPPinG GaZETTE • OCTOBER 26, <strong>20</strong>07<br />
madli viTismann
Change language