English
On August 8 the biggest ship to have entered the Port of Riga so far sailed away. UBC ONSAN sailing under the flag of the Netherlands carries nearly 112 thousand tons of coal on its way to the French port Dunkirk.
The vessel is 260 m long, 43 m wide, and its draught is 14.5 m. UBC ONSAN’s entry into the Port of Riga serves as proof that Riga is prepared to harbour the biggest ships to enter the Baltic Sea.
Before UBC ONSAN the biggest ship served in the Port of Riga was Kyzikos sailing under the flag of Greece. It was 230 m long, 37 m wide, and its draught was 14.2 m. 82.2 thousand tons of iron ore were loaded in its holds.
The said ships are bigger than the so-called Panamax vessels, as ships of width exceeding 33 m cannot enter Panama Canal.
“Drawing in such ships is our long-term goal, therefore the planned shipping route deepening and new deepwater quayside building projects should be implemented as soon as possible. If Riga delays infrastructure improvements, we might lose [our] competitiveness and consequently our leading position in the Baltic Sea achieved thanks to the Freeport’s infrastructure improvements developed and implemented so far”, claims Andris Ameriks, Chairman of Board of the Freeport of Riga Authority.
