Riga Port Aims Growth with LNG Move

The Baltic Sea port, Port of Riga is now offering regular port services for liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered container vessels to reduce the environmental impact of its operations and boost its container throughput.

"By officially welcoming the new container ship Containerships Polar, the Port has started regular port services to LNG-powered container vessels," said a press note from the Latvia’s major port said.

It is planned that the first two 100% LNG-powered vessels Containerships Polar and Containerships Nord owned by the CMA CGM group container line will arrive at the Port of Riga three times per week, and it is expected that a third LNG vessel will join them in the autumn. Thus, the Port of Riga has made a large step towards its goal of becoming a green port and reducing the environmental impact of its operations.

As the new LNG vessels are one of the largest container ships that make regular stops at the Port of Riga, it is expected that the volume of container cargo will also increase.

“Some European markets shipments of Containerships customers are already delivered by LNG powered vehicles. Together with the first LNG-powered container vessels, they will form a complete cycle of green logistics. In the nearest future, we also plan to introduce an LNG car fleet in Latvia, reducing the environmental impact and shifting towards 100% green logistics,” underlines Kristaps Jakovļevs, the manager of Containerships in Latvia and Estonia.

“Moreover, the new LNG vessels that arrive at the Port of Riga have a larger tonnage allowing us to offer better services to our customers and allowing Latvian exporters to better plan their supply chains and cargo volumes to the UK, Benelux countries, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Portugal,” Jakovļevs added.

Mārtiņš Ziemanis, Deputy CEO of the Freeport of Riga, indicated that regular servicing of LNG vessels at the Port of Riga is in line with global trends and development plans of the port.