Klaipeda (Lithuania)

Klaipeda is a Baltic Sea port and city in western Lithuania, ranked by population (around 150,000, metro over 205,00) Lithuania's 3rd largest (after the capital Vilnius, and Kaunas). The nearby Palanga is a picturesque seaside resort town with an 11-km long sandy beach, backed by pinewoods and dunes.

The settlement dates back from 7th century AD, but in 1252 was destroyed by the Teutonic Knights, who then constructed the Memelburg fortress. Held briefly by Sweden (1629-1635) and Prussia (1635-1919), the town became Memel's (East Prussia's) capital in 1920. In 1923, it was passed to Lithuania and renamed from Memel to Klaipeda. In 1939 it was occupied by Germany, and in 1945 incorporated into USSR's Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Since 1991, it is  part of Lithuania.

In 2019, Port Klaipeda handled 53 cruise ship calls and 75,000+ passengers. For 2020 were booked 65 ship calls and expedted ~90,000 cruise tourists.

Port Klaipeda

Port Klaipeda (locode LTKLJ) is Lithuania's largest seaport. It is located at the mouth of Akmena-Dane River, and have great importance as one of the few Baltic ports that are ice-free the whole year-round.

Klaipeda is also popular as call port for Northern Europe-based cruise ships, as well as major cargo and ferry port. Regularly scheduled ferries (run by TT Line and DFDS Seaways) connect Lithuania (via Klaipeda) with Germany (Kiel, Travemunde) and Sweden (Karlshamn, Trelleborg).

Following the country's independence from Russia (1991) was founded the managing company "Klaipėda State Seaport Authority", responsible for the seaport's infrastructure maintenance, development and modernization. However, cargo and passenger shipping operations are managed by separate terminal operators. Port's land and infrastructure are state-owned, with partial privatization underway. 

Port Klaipeda (officially "Klaipeda State Seaport") has capacity to handle vessels with LOA length up to 250 m (820 ft), max draft 13,5 m (44 ft) and is served by two railway stations, plus highways connecting to Moscow Russia (via Kaunas-Vilnius and Minsk Belarus). Port's annual capacity in 2010 was over 31 million tons (cargo) and around 321,000 international ferry passengers shipped to/from Germany (Kiel, Mukran), Sweden (Åhus) and Denmark (Copenhagen, Fredericia). In 2011, the port handled 382,000 TEU-containers carried on boxships.

In recent years, the port authority company started to make investments (EU-funded) in major infrastructure works, including breakwaters (rehabilitation and extensions), channel entrance dredging (widening and deepening), installing new monitoring fenders and steel moorings, current monitoring system, plus privatization of services.

In September 2018 was constructed a new coastal protection wall and were completed soil dredging from dock pits and quay reconstruction (SC Western Shipyard's quay berths 137A, 138A, 139). New railways were also added. These quays are used for ship repairs and also cargo handling. In 2018, SC Western Shipyard acquired (for EUR 27,1 million) new drydock where can be repaired some of the world's largest vessels - from icebreakers to oil platforms (offshore drilling rigs).

In early-November 2018 were launched large-scale infrastructure development projects, among the first being dredging (entrance channel, also in Malku Bay). The dredging project included the excavation of approx 1,5 million m3 of soil in Malku Bay. The contractor was the Rotterdam-based Dutch company "Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV". The entire Malku Bay dredging and protection project (EUR 15,63 million) was partially funded by EU Cohesion Fund. Since July 2020, the port's max draft / permitted draught gauge is 15 m (49 ft) - increased from 13,8 m (45 ft). Channel deepening works are planned to start in 2021.

Klaipeda Port's largest vessel (so far) docked on December 19, 2018. The ULCV (Ultra Large Container Vessel) "MSC Ingy" has capacity 19462 TEUs, LOA length 400 m (1312 ft), width 59 m (194 ft) and is owned by world's second-largest shipping company MSC. MSC Ingy docked at JSSC Klaipedos Smelte terminal. The terminal serves mainly smaller boxships (with max capacity 6000 TEUs), the majority of which are feeders (medium-size cargo ships) connecting to neighboring Baltic ports (in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Russia and other countries).

In May 2018, Klaipedos Smelte started a EUR 65 million terminal expansion and upgrade project (2018-2020) for constructing new storage facilities and purchasing 12 new Konecranes-made gantry cranes. By this project, the port's annual cargo capacity will be increased from 800.000 to 1,2 million TEUs.

On January 10, 2019, the vessel Kairos (2018-built LNG tanker) started LNG bunkering services at Port Klaipeda. The ship is chartered by "Blue LNG" - a joint venture (90/10) of the companies Nauticor (Bomin Linde LNG GmbH, Hamburg-based supplier) and Klaipedos Nafta (Klaipeda Oil Terminal's operator). The tanker ship has max LNG (liquefied natural gas) capacity 7500 m3 and is also used for loading LNG from the LNG Terminal to the reloading station at the port's entrance. Kairos is scheduled to enter Port Klaipėda at least once per 2 months. For the remaining time, it is used by Nauticor to supply LNG to private customers and seaports in Northern Europe. The ship is owned by Babcock Schulte Energy and is ranked the world’s largest LNG bunker supply vessel.

On September 20, 2019, Port Klaipeda received its largest floating dock (with capacity to serve Post-Panamax vessels). It was acquired in 2016 (from Adriatic Shipyard Bijela, Montenegro). The 235-m long (45-m wide) floating drydock is currently Baltic Sea's largest. The facility is owned by BLRT Grupp and was reconstructed at Naantali Shipyard (Finland). As of 2020, BLRT Grupp owns 3 shipyards - Tallinn Shipyard (Estonia), Western Shiprepair (Lithuania) and Turku Repair Yard (Finland).

In mid-January 2021, Klaipeda Seaport Authority signed with Rohde Nielsen AS (Copenhagen Denmark-based dredging company) a contract for dredging the shipping canal (up to Malku Bay) from max-depth 13,8 m (45 ft) to 15 m (50 ft). The EUR 17,3 million project was EU-funded. Rohde Nielsen was also contracted for the canal's deepening in 2011-2013.

In 2022, the fairways were dredged to a depth of ~15 m (49 ft), while in 2023, the port entrance was widened and deepened.

In March 2022 was inaugurated a new direct Europe-USA container ship line. The roundtrip from Klaipeda route includes ports in Poland (Gdynia), Sweden (Goteborg/Gothenburg), Germany (Bremerhaven), and the East Coast USA ports NYC (New York), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and Norfolk (Virginia).

In 2022, the Port handled 63 cruise ship calls, and the number grew to 44 in 2023 (with estimated ~45000 passengers. As of 2023, ~1,8% (EUR 0,75 million) of the Port's total dues are contributed by cruise shipping companies. On average, passengers spend ~EUR 70 per person per day during port stays.

In May 2023, Klaipeda State Seaport Authority started the initial planning of a new cruise quay, scheduled for completion in 2026. The tender process (for both the contractor and terminal operator) will be initiated in 2024.

Klaipeda cruise terminal