Riga’s LNG move targets container growth

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.

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. “One of our development priorities requires use of environmentally-friendly technologies, and the other – significant increase in the number of handled containers,” he said.

As the new LNG vessels are amongst 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.

Kristaps Jakovļevs, the manager of Containerships in Latvia and Estonia stated that “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”.