The port of Ventspils is an Ice-free, deep-water

sea port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

located in

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

coast. Its total area is 2451.39 hectares. By

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

turnover Turnover or turn over may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Turn Over'', a 1988 live album by Japanese band Show-Ya * Turnover (band), an American rock band * "Turnover", a song on Fugazi's 1990 album ''Repeater'' * ''Turnover'', a Japa ...

it is one of the Baltic Sea's busiest ports. The port of Ventspils became a multimodal port when the harbour was significantly deepened in 1998, reaching a maximum depth of 17.5 meters in the liquid bulk area. This allowed the accommodation of the largest

vessels Vessel(s) or the Vessel may refer to: Biology *Blood vessel, a part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body *Lymphatic vessel, a thin walled, valved structure that carries lymph *Vessel element, a narrow wat ...

then operating in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, including

Aframax An Aframax vessel is an oil tanker with a deadweight between 80,000 and 120,000 metric tonnes. The term is based on the Average Freight Rate Assessment (AFRA), a tanker rate system created in 1954 by Shell Oil to standardize shipping contract ...

-size tankers with maximum 130.000 metric tons deadweight (DWT). The

dry bulk Bulk cargo is product cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate (as a mass of relatively small solids) form, such as petroleum/crude oil, ...

and general cargo area, with a depth of 16 meters, allows the terminal to accommodate

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships traveling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

-type vessels with their load capacities of up to 75.000 DWT. Cargo turnover of Ventspils port (Latvia) for 5 months in 2016 was decreased on 23% - to 9 million tons. Including 5 months of 2016, the volume of transshipment through the terminal Ventspils Nafta termināls decreased by 27%, via Baltic Coal Terminal fell by 45% to 609 thousand tonnes, through the "Ventspils commercial sea port decreased by 32%, through the terminal Ventamonjaks decreased by 50% to 26 thousand tonnes through the terminal Ventall Termināls was reduced by 60%. Cargo turnover of the terminal Ventbunkers decreased by 3%.

The Freeport of Ventspils

Ventspils port is managed by the Freeport of Ventspils, which is supervised by the

Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia The government of Latvia is the central government of the Republic of Latvia. The Constitution of Latvia () defines Latvia as a parliamentary republic represented by a unicameral parliament (Saeima) and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republi ...

, under various statutory authorities. These include the 1994 ''Law on ports'' (regarding operations and procedures), the 1997 ''Ventspils Freeport Law'' (which provides for businesses within the port), and the 2002 ''Law on'' ''Tax Application in Free Ports and Special Economic Zones,'' which regulates

tax incentive A tax incentive is an aspect of a government's taxation policy designed to incentive, incentivize or encourage a particular economic activity by reducing tax payments. Tax incentives can have both positive and negative impacts on an economy. Amo ...

s for those businesses within the port.

Infrastructure

Ventspils is on the East-West

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

corridor and part of the Eurasian transport system, as well as European motorway route E22.

Ventspils Airport Ventspils International Airport is an airport southwest of Ventspils, Latvia. It is the newest airport and, with Liepāja International Airport and Riga International Airport, is one of the three notable airports in the country. Overview Vent ...

is close by, and Riga International Airport (RIX) is approximately two hours' drive away.

References

External links

* {{Ports and harbours of Latvia

Ventspils

The Freeport of Ventspils

Infrastructure

See also

References

External links