Ukraine and Latvia ramp up the business relations between Odessa Port on the Black Sea and the ports of Riga, Ventspils, and Liepaja on the Baltic Sea, as reported by Press Office of Odessa Branch, USPA (Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority).
On Tuesday 31 August Odessa sea trade port was visited by a numerous delegation of Latvian business circles delegates headed by Director of Investment and Development Agency of Latvia in Ukraine Ainārs Mežulis. There were top managers of Latvian Railways, Riga Free Port and Freeport of Ventspils, public and private companies acting in the maritime transport sector. The visit occurred in the course of the international transport forum TRANS EXPO ODESA 2021 taking place in the passenger terminal of Odessa Port from 31 August to 02 September.
There was an excursion around the port provided for the Latvian Republic’s business representatives, including visits to the transhipment facilities. Then, a short trilateral meeting was held at the USPA (Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority ) Odessa Branch Head Office where the Baltic colleagues exchanged thoughts with their Ukrainian counterparts as concerns possible cooperation.
During the talks Head of the Branch Maksim Lapay got the Latvian guests acquainted with production capabilities of Odessa port terminals, stressing upon Odessa being a large universal port handling all types of dry and liquid cargo, except for environmentally hazardous ones. Concurrently, private companies – port operators – are engaged in attracting and handling cargoes. In its turn, Port Authority, as per the law, provides businesses with equal access to the infrastructure and is responsible for the maintenance, operation and development of basic production assets: hydraulic structures, roads, energy supply systems, utilities, etc.
During the dialogue, representatives of the Lithuanian side were interested, in particular, in the existing practice in Ukraine of distributing management, operation and development of road and rail communications between public and private structures, the format of attracting investments and the principles of public-private partnership in the port business. A separate question was asked about the export and transit ratio in the total volume of certain dry cargo items transhipment.
Summing up the dialogue results, the parties noted prevalence of cooperation opportunities over competition in relations between the port of Odessa and the ports of Latvia. The development of multimodal transport within the framework of international transport corridors that combine logistics routes of the Black and Baltic Seas was identified as the most promising direction in this sense. At the end of the conversation, the parties exchanged contacts and agreed to intensify business ties between the port of Odessa and the ports of Riga, Ventspils, Liepaja, as per USPA Odessa Branch.
https:/ports.ua/odesskij-port-aktiviziruet-sotrudnichestvo-s-portami-na-baltike/