The Riga City Council Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Board of the Freeport of Riga Mr. Andris Ameriks and the Minister of Transport Mr. Anrijs Matiss have visited the site of the ambitious Krievu Island project to assess the infrastructure development progress.
“ Krievu Island project will be completed on time – in August 2015. There will be no compromise, there will be no alternative. This is the site of the 21st century port. The main benefit of Krievu Island project is the fact that there will be no coal dust in the historical center of the city. This project will also create up to 2,000 new jobs ,” said Deputy Mayor of Riga and Chairman of Board of the Freeport of Riga Mr. Andris Ameriks.
Currently, construction of berths and railway access tracks is going on, while the stevedoring companies start to develop their infrastructure. “ Political situation will not affect the implementation of the Krievu Island project. Provided there is no Russian coal, there will be containers from the United States, warehouses or cruise ship berths ,” said Minister of Transport Mr. Anrijs Matiss.
Krievu Island infrastructure development project is the most ambitious and financially ample project during the period of regained independence. There will be four deep-water berths at Krievu Island, thus making it possible to accommodate all types of cargo carriers, operating in the Baltic Sea area.
At the same time the speed of cargo handling will increase, reducing vessel’s stay duration to one day, instead of the current two to four days. Relocation of the dry bulk cargo flow to the left bank of the River Daugava will enhance railway capacity and boost up Kundzinsala container terminal development.
Implementation of the project will not only maintain the competitiveness of the Freeport of Riga in the Baltic Sea region, but will also foster successful operation of the transit sector and its further development. Volumes of cargo, transshipped by rail, are directly related to port activities – by maintaining and increasing handling capacity the rail freight turnover will be ensured and logistics business operation will be facilitated.
The scheduled volume of handled cargo at Krievu Island will reach 15 million tons per year, but in the future it might be as much as 20 million tons per year.
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Press Release, September 9, 2014