Sea

© Vidmantas Matutis photo

Spausdinti   Supplement to article

The initiators of Butinge deep-water port are already looking for foreign investors, although the questions about port’s exact location are still left unanswered.

Americans presented with the project

The representatives of Lithuania have contacted one of the largest container companies in the world Maersk Line (presently occupying 16-17 per cent of the world’s container business) with an opportunity to contribute in building Butinge deep-water port. This was the third time when Lithuanian representatives were contacting Maersk Line. Maersk Line is interested in the building of new terminals and has expressed this by building its own terminal in U.S. Norfolk’s port.

“Our goal is to represent Lithuania as a safe and secure country. They are looking at Lithuania as a transit country. They were impressed that out of 36 million tons of cargo, Lithuanian cargo made about 60 per cent,” – noticed Klaipeda State Sea Port Authority Director Eugenijus Gentvilas.

So far, no concrete answer was made by Maersk Line regarding the future terminal in Lithunia. The representatives of Maersk Line have talked about a possibility to build a deep water port in Russia’s Kaliningrad. There were also talks that Maersk Lines plans to invest into a container distribution center in Polish port of Gdansk, which already accepts 300 meter length oceanic container ships. Maersk Line is not the only one which is presented with an opportunity to invest. A German company Hapag-Lloyd and another U.S. based company APL (American President Lines) have also expressed their interests.

Unanswered questions

So far, there are no guarantees that a deep water port will be built in Butinge. Already in 2008, there was almost 100 per cent certainty that such a port will be built in Klaipeda, by forming a new island near Melnrage. Such projects were implemented in the world before. However, when in 2008, the government in Lithuania has changed, certain plans were discarded. There are new problems with a construction site. First of all, the Environmental Impact Assessment has to be prepared. There is a need for an international environmental assessment because the port is going to be built near the border with Latvia. To reach an agreement with Latvia is going to be hard because there are still problems with Lithuanian-Latvian sea borders.

The promoters of Butinge port claim that the port will be removed from the disputed border with Latvia. The port can still be a problem for Latvians because of its close proximity as well as of its impact. There is also another point to be discussed about the port, which was raised by Klaipeda University Coastal Research and Planning Institute Assistant Saulius Gulbinskas: “What will be the length of piers for Butinge deep-water port, if such a port requires the depth of 18 meters, 6-7 kilometers away from the shores?” So far, the question remains unanswered.