Lithuania’s Klaipeda port gets NIB loan to boost capacity

VILNIUS - Lithuania’s Klaipeda State Seaport Authority will get a 44 million-euro ($57 million) loan from the Nordic Investment Bank to upgrade the Baltic port and boost its cargo-handling capacity by a quarter, Bloomberg reports.
“Modern, well-functioning infrastructure in Klaipeda Seaport is of strategic importance for Lithuania’s economy,” NIB President Henrik Normann said today in a statement on the Helsinki-based lender’s Web site. “This investment will boost the country’s competitiveness in trade logistics and promote the capacity of transportation services in the region.”

Klaipeda is the northernmost ice-free port on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development gave a separate loan in January for developing container handling at the port to support “the transformation of Klaipeda into a major regional transshipment hub.”

The NIB said its loan will be used to reconstruct quays, build a pier for ferries as well as deepen and widen the port’s navigation channel. The projects will increase annual capacity by as much as 13 tons and make Klaipeda safer for ships, according to the statement.