Energy, Good for Business, Lithuania, Oil, Port, Transport

In October alone, cargo traffic rose 16.7% to 4.7 million tons, which was the best month in the port's history in terms of handling volumes.

The port's CEP Algis Latakas says Klaipeda comes in fourth among ports in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea in terms of handling volumes, and is the first among the Baltic states, citing investment into the port as the main reason for that.

"The state invested a lot into the port's infrastructure during the period, and port companies invested into their terminals. A lot of attention was paid into digitalization, safe shipping, and all these aspects are related to the port's operation and ensuring operational quality. Investments have allowed maintaining the competitive advantage against other ports in the Baltic region," Latakas said in a statement.

Orlen Lietuva's Butinge crude terminal handled 6.7 million tons of oil in January through October 2020, down 17%, the port of Klaipeda's authority told BNS.

The terminal handled 9.54 million tons of crude oil in the full year 2019, down 1.2% from 2018.

Orlen Lietuva, the Lithuanian unit of Poland's oil group Orlen, has been importing crude oil via Butinge solely for its own needs since mid-2006.