Port of Klaipėda

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Port of Klaipėda
The port of Klaipėda.jpg
Location
CountryLithuania
LocationKlaipėda, Lithuania
Coordinates55°43′04″N 21°06′45″E / 55.717778°N 21.1125°E / 55.717778; 21.1125Coordinates: 55°43′04″N 21°06′45″E / 55.717778°N 21.1125°E / 55.717778; 21.1125
UN/LOCODELTKLJ[1]
Details
Opened1252[2]
Owned byGovernment of Lithuania
Chief Executive OfficerAlgis Latakas
Statistics
Vessel arrivals6 533 (2020)
Annual cargo tonnage47.79 million (2020)
Annual container volume640 148 TEU (2020)
Passenger traffic68 129 (2019) 0 (2020)
Website
portofklaipeda.lt

The Port of Klaipėda is a seaport located in Klaipėda, Lithuania. It is one of the few ice-free ports in northernmost Europe, and the largest in Lithuania. It serves as a port of call for cruise ships as well as freight transport. Regular passenger ferry lines connect to Kiel, Karlshamn, Copenhagen and other European cities.[3]

History[]

The old port of Klaipėda in early 20th century

The city of Klaipėda has been involved in maritime trade as early as the 13th century,[2] and probably during prehistoric times, since it is located on the Amber Road. For several centuries its administration and its merchants defended the port and competed with the Port of Danzig and the Port of Königsberg. It was heavily fortified. At the beginning of the 20th century the port was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Lithuania. Before World War I, the major cargo was timber. During the 20th century, mineral and cellulose enterprises were established in Lithuania, and became port commodities. Infrastructure supporting the fishing and shipbuilding industries were also built.

Current operations[]

The port of Klaipėda handled more than 46 million tons of cargo in 2018
Ships in the port

In 1991, after Lithuanian independence was declared, the Klaipėda State Seaport Authority was founded. It administers the port and supports its integration into the larger scheme of Lithuanian transport. The Port Authority is responsible for the maintenance, reconstruction and modernisation of the port infrastructure, while loading and unloading operations are managed by separate independent terminals. The port's land and infrastructure belong to the state, but some privatisization is underway.

The Port of Klaipėda is the most northerly ice-free port in the Eastern part of the Baltic Sea. The port can accommodate ships of up to 250 meters in length with draughts of up to 13.5 meters. The port is served by two railway stations and a highways which together link Klaipėda to Kaunas, Vilnius and cities in the nearby countries, such as Minsk, Kyiv and Moscow.

In 1997, 16.13 million tons of cargo were handled at the port, increasing to over 31 million tons in 2010. About 321,000 international passengers transhipped the port of Klaipėda in 2010, on ferries servicing Kiel and Mukran in Germany, Åhus in Sweden, and Copenhagen and Fredericia in Denmark.

In 2015, the Port Authority hired Austrian company Strabag for dredging the shipping channel to the depth of 15 metres.[4]

Some of the major companies or objects operating in the port:

Annual cargo turnover, million tones[5]
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
19.40 17.24 19.74 21.19 20.25 21.79 23.61 27.36 29.88 27.86
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
31.28 36.59 35.24 33.42 36.41 38.51 40.14 43.17 46.58 46.22
2020 2021
47.79 45.62

  • Embankment of the cruise ship terminal

  • Cargo loading

  • Harbor

  • Sea gate

  • Cruise ship Costa Magica visiting the port

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "UNLOCODE (LT) - LITHUANIA". service.unece.org. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b "History". Port of Klaipėda. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2015-09-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Klaipėdos uosto kanalo gilinimo konkursą laimėjo austrų „Strabag"" (in Lithuanian). Verslo žinios. 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  5. ^ "Port statistics". Port of Klaipėda. Retrieved 20 August 2021.

External links[]

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