Freeport of Riga opens renovated piers
The Freeport of Riga says it held a ceremony at the beginning of the year to commission two piers, ZO-1 and ZO-2, after the redevelopment, which took almost two years.
The project included extension of both piers. ZO-1 received two newly built mooring posts and new lighting. For the extension of the ZO-2 pier, a new underwater sheet pile was built and dredging to 12 m depth mark was done. For the needs of the new extended pier, soil excavation was performed in the area of 3,710 m2 and about 7,746 m2 of the water area were dredged. Storm sewer with local water treatment units and output to the water area was built.
The redevelopment project completed by SIA Rīgas Universālais Termināls (RUT) will allow maintaining long-term competitiveness and satisfying growing requirements of our customers by serving even larger ships at our well-suited piers. At the same time, for the Port of Riga this project means the development of the pier infrastructure in the Port, which will boost cargo turnover in the long-term perspective. Moreover, such substantial private investments show that the companies feel safe in the Port of Riga, can see its potential and plan their long-term development.
RUT Executive Director Jānis Kasalis said: “Today we can see one of the ships at the pier, which prompted to consider the pier extension. The design work took almost two years, but in 2016 we signed an agreement with BMGS for the implementation of the project. I have to say that we made life very difficult for our contractor, as we were loading ships and building the pier all at the same time. We are thinking about our next step and possibly will continue building new piers in the coming ten years creating one of the deepest piers in the Freeport of Riga. We have not built the pier for ourselves, we have built it for our customers who already use RUT services and those who will become our customers in the future.”
Edgars Sūna, Deputy CEO of the Freeport of Riga Authority: “I want to congratulate the RUT team on yet another completed project at the Port of Riga. I can earnestly say that RUT is a bright example of a company that only 10 years ago was considered a medium small firm, but now has become the third largest company in the Freeport of Riga. Land and water line are limited resources, that is why every square meter redeveloped and improved is very important. Port development is driven by two main values – powerful infrastructure and smart people. RUT is a good example to follow.”
RUT is one of the most successful and rapidly growing terminals in the Port of Riga. In 2018, the company’s cargo turnover reached 4 million ton, and in terms of cargo volume it is among three largest terminals in the Port. In 2013, RUT was acquired by Singapore company Portek International, which is a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co.
The company’s investments in the project reached 5 million euro. The renovation contractor AS BMGS is one of the most experienced hydro engineering companies in the Baltic states with multiple successfully completed projects in the Port of Riga.
