Latviski
On 28 February the administration of the Ministry of Transport and nominated representatives from the Parliamentary groups visited the Freeport of Riga Authority in order to get acquainted with its work. The following persons represented the Ministry of Transport: Minister Aivis Ronis, State Secretary Anrijs Matīss, Deputy State Secretary Džineta Innusa, as well as the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry and Member of Parliament Klāvs Olšteins. Andris Maldups, Secretary of the Latvian Port Council, was also present. The following Members of Parliament were nominated for the visit: Dzintars Zaķis (Vienotība), Ivars Zariņš (Saskaņas centrs), Valters Bolēvics (Nacionālā Apvienība), and Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis (Zatlera reformu partija).
At the beginning of February, Ronis, the Minister of Transport, proposed establishing an expert work group for the assessment of port performance and strengthening independence and professionalism of port authorities. The work group consists of experts from the Port Association of Latvia, Latvian Logistics Association, Transit Business Association of Latvia, “Baltic Association – Transport and Logistics”, VAS (state joint stock company) “Latvijas dzelzceļš”, and the Transit policy department of the Ministry of Transport.
During the visit Ronis introduced the management of the Freeport of Riga Authority to the work done so far by the expert work group. Representatives from the Freeport of Riga Authority informed on the authority functions and general operation terms; current port operation and infrastructure development plans, expected investments and projects were also discussed. Members of Parliament raised questions about the charges applied to cargo owners. Leonīds Loginovs, CEO of the Freeport of Riga, informed the visitors that only 3% of the costs that are applied to the incoming vessels account for the Freeport dues, the rest of the sum accounts for cargo servicing and stevedore operations — loading, unloading, and storage of cargoes. Edgars Sūna, Head of the Marketing Department, made a convincing presentation showing that the growth of cargo turnover is the most exact indicator for measuring the efficiency of port operations.
In response to the queries raised by Members of Parliament about the role of the Government in the improvement of port performance, the CEO replied that issues related to customs capacity are crucial, since large part of container cargoes are carried by road. The infrastructure development project in Krievu Sala was also touched upon; currently the project is reviewed by the Latvian Procurement Monitoring Bureau. The scale and significance of the project both for the port performance and the national economy growth implies it should be discussed at governmental level. Otherwise, Latvia may lose co-financing of the European Union and miss the opportunity of relieving the historical City Centre from port operations.
Matīss, manager of the expert work group, promised that proposals, which are unanimously backed, shall be collated shortly. Proposals will be drafted for review by the Minister Aivis Ronis, further review by the Latvian Port Council and Government, and finally for approval by the Parliament.
