Agreement must be reached next year on financing and construction of new passenger terminal - Riga Port

RIGA - An agreement on the financing and construction of a new passenger terminal should be reached within the next year, Chairman of the Board of the Freeport of Riga Sandis Steins told LETA.

He also said that next year work should start in the port's water area on the demolition of the ED dam to ensure access for large cruise ships and passenger ferries to the new terminal.

"Along with the passenger traffic infrastructure development works, the negotiations with the line operators on the renewal of regular passenger traffic (passenger ferries) to and from the Port of Riga, initiated together with the Riga Municipality and the Ministry of Economics (MoE), will be very important for the Port of Riga," Steins said.

He explained that even closer cooperation with the city's institutions is needed next year to promote the development of manufacturing companies both in the port and in Riga's harbor areas, as well as the establishment of quality road transport links between the port and the city's harbor areas

Steins noted that the Port of Riga is optimistic about the next year, as both analysts of the Freeport of Riga Authority and representatives of the port terminals forecast that the port's cargo volume in 2025 will remain at least at this year's level, while cargo turnover could even increase slightly in anticipation of a significant economic recovery in Latvia and in the main export markets.

At the same time, he stressed that the transport sector could also be hit by significant shocks in the coming year. "The war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East continue, and concerns about US international trade policy in the coming years are also creating uncertainty in global markets. Sanctions, trade wars, bans and boycotts may cover new commodity groups, modes of transport and logistics routes," added Stein.

He said that the logistics supply chains that are currently in place could be completely disrupted again and it is unpredictable what impact this will have on the Port of Riga.

He also mentioned that the sustainable development of the Port of Riga and growing cargo volumes in the long term can only be ensured by developing the Port of Riga as a high added value industrial cluster with modern production facilities and powerful logistics service providers, while continuing the comprehensive digitization and automation of the port.

Therefore, in his opinion, the biggest challenge for the coming year will be the targeted implementation of all planned port infrastructure development, digitization and investment attraction projects.

The European Union's (EU) green course, climate neutrality requirements and the realization of green port objectives will also be a challenge in the future.

"The industry is shifting towards climate neutrality - process automation, zero-emission technologies, decarbonization and renewable energy initiatives are becoming more prevalent. At the end of this year, newly built alternative fuel vessels from a number of companies started to arrive regularly at the Port of Riga," said Steins.

One of the priorities for the Freeport of Riga in the coming year will be to work on the development of the infrastructure of the industrial areas in Kundzinsala, as well as attracting investors to industrial projects in the territory of the Port of Riga and supporting private entrepreneurs in the implementation of projects will be a vital area of activity in the coming year as well.

"The most important investment attraction projects at the moment are: an agreement with a potential developer of a wind turbine component manufacturing plant in Kundzinsala, the launch of a biofuel production project in Kundzinsala and the development of a solar energy park in Spilve," Steins said.

LETA already reported that the Freeport of Riga handled a total of 18.794 million tons of cargo in 2023, 20.1 percent less than in 2022.

The Port of Riga is the largest port in Latvia in terms of cargo handled.