2011-12-14, 16:22
During the biggest storms, the port of Klaipeda is not closed
© Vidmantas Matutis photo
During the last weeks, the weather was windy and its influence was felt on the port of Klaipeda. The port’s captain Viktoras Lukosevicius claimed that people often make mistakes by claiming that during windy weather, the port of Klaipeda is closed.
“It is impossible to hang a padlock on the port’s gate. During the storms, only shipping is limited. In individual cases, ships are sailing when high winds are rising,” – assured Mr. Lukosevicius.
It is typical for the shipping in Klaipeda port to decrease when winds of more than 20 meters per second are blowing. In such cases, ship handling may be paused at some berths. Late November winds influenced decrease in cargo handling. However, November was not unusual in terms of intensity of shipping. The month was one of the most intensive. Throughout November, pilots received 690 ships. It is the third result within past years. The highest number reached was 710 ships. After severe storms, pilots have a lot of work. Typically, in normal weather conditions, Klaipeda port is entered and left by 15-20 vessels, requiring escort of pilots. After hurricane, when the number of ships accumulated, pilots had to escort 50 vessels. In late November and early December, the winds faster than 20 meter per second raged not only in the Baltic, but also in the North Sea. Despite that, no major disaster occurred. In early December, a small vessel Freyfaxi ran aground on the Swedish coast, belonging to a Polish company, flying with the flag of Panama.
