Riga Municipal Council decided to relocate the facilities from the centre of the city to the island near Krievu Sala, which belongs to Russia. Latvia asked EU financing for six projects, five of which focusing on the transport infrastructure. The relocation of the Port of Riga is the most important project. The authorities hope that this initiative will have a positive economic impact on the port, which will gain a higher traffic, and on the city, which will benefit from new spaces that will be used in tourism. The Russian Federation will also gain from the relocation of the port, seeing as most of the freight carried comes from Russia. This is how an initiative dating back from the Soviet period, when Latvia used to be part of the URSS, can be turned into a sustainable investment in the new political context.
The project amounts to a value of EUR 183.5 Million, of which 75 Million come from the state budget and the rest from European funding. The project includes the transfer of the equipment from the Andrejsala and Export docks and to the Russian island, which is located near the Daugava river mouths. The transfer implies a relocation of around 15-20 km. The future port will be built on a surface of 64 acres and it will have a capacity of 22 million tones of freight, mainly coal, which represents 60% of the total traffic of the port. The new port will be opened in 2014.
The main reason that led to the relocation of the port was the environmental degradation caused by the activities undertaken in the port, which affected Riga’s historical centre and the Daugava delta. The project was supported by the public opinion since the very beginning. This relocation will benefit all the entities involved. The municipality plans to include the old facility in the tourism circuit, seeing as this area and the port have the most valuable historical buildings in Riga. The port will also benefit from this relocation: it will attract the traffic on Daugava. The Krievu Sala Island has a better location than the old one. The project also includes the construction of the access infrastructure.
The Port of Riga will become the main gateway for the freight shipped from Belarus
The new port will ensure the continuity of the activities and also provide Riga with a competitive advantage as opposed to the other Baltic ports, Tallinn (Estonia) and Klapeida (Lithuania), which are struggling to become the largest Baltic ports for Russian and CIS trade. 80% of the freight arriving in the new port of Riga comes from the CIS countries. In 2009, 29.72 million tones of freight came and left the port, 0.5% more than in 2008. Therefore, Russia has all the interest in building a port that can ensure freight access to the Scandinavian ports and especially Helsinki, which is a major trade partner for the Russian Federation.
Latvia’s ambition of becoming the main gateway for the freight shipped from the CIS region and Belarus is also supported by the port’s strategy of extending the docking area for freight ships and soon for passenger ships, in order to accommodate larger ships. Ainars Slesers, President of the Free Port of Riga, who used to be the Latvian Minister of Transport, said that this initiative helped them recover the losses from the 20% reduction in freight traffic brought by the economic crisis. The port’s fiscal policy is advantageous for the operators and the state as well. For every tonne of freight carried, the state takes EUR 10-15, which represents a net annual gain of EUR 400 Million. Another major project is the construction of the new Uralhim container terminal, expected to increase traffic in the port by 2 million tonnes, and later by 5 million tonnes.
The Port of Riga has a rich history. It was founded by the Vikings. In the 19th and 20th century, when Latvia was part of the Tsarist Russia and then the Soviet Union, Riga was the third largest port in Russia and the largest port for wood and timber transport. In the communist period, Riga was the largest port for the transport of liquefied gas.
by Alin Lupulescu
Share on:
