Baltic ports play an important role in the economies of countries with access to the Baltic Sea. It is through them that the main commodity circulation goes, therefore a lot depends on their modernity, infrastructure equipment. In this article we will talk about the main ports in this direction.
The situation with the turnover
In recent years, the ports of the Baltic states, that is, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, are experiencing hard times. Their profitability, profit, and turnover are reduced. Back in 2002, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would do everything to ensure that, without exception, all oil was exported only through domestic ports, and not the ports of the Baltic states, as it was at that time. Since then, this problem has been systematically solved.
The first step was taken back in 2002, when oil terminals were opened in Primorsk. But even with this condition, the statements of the head of state at that time seemed a little feasible. After all, since Soviet times, the lion's share of oil and oil products went through the ports of Latvia. In total, about 30 million tons were exported annually.
At the moment, the situation has changed radically. By 2015, no more than 9 million tons of oil and oil products fell to all ports of the Baltic states, in 2016, these figures dropped to 5 million tons, and in 2018 they almost came to naught. The entire oil cargo flow was reoriented exclusively to domestic ports, to correct the situation with the domestic economy, support employers and local infrastructure.
Baltic losses
Baltic ports have been losing Russian suppliers regularly since the 2000s. Domestic hydrocarbons were the very first to leave from there, which was facilitated by the implementation of such large infrastructure projects as South and North. Even then, the head of Transneft, Nikolai Tokarev, stated that the state had set the task of loading domestic ports to the maximum, since they had a surplus of capacities.
As a result, in a short time, the total volume of transportation through pipelines was increased by one and a half million tons. At the same time, capacities that were not used directly for crude oil, it was decided to transfer to the intensive pumping of oil products towards the Russian coast. As a result, as Tokarev noted, all of Russia's cargo flows from Baltic ports were reoriented to Primorsk, Ust-Luga, and Novorossiysk. First of all, Riga and Ventspils suffered from this.
The reorientation of Russian business to domestic capacities dealt a tangible blow to the Baltic countries. Their economic well-being, not least, depended on the transit of Russian goods. The list of Baltic ports, which suffered in the first place, was headed by the Latvian coastal cities, since the ports of Lithuania still received a significant load due to the Belarusian cargo flow, which was mainly sent to Klaipeda.
Expert estimates are also confirmed by statistics. Already at the beginning of 2016, the cargo turnover of the Freeport of Riga decreased by 11 and a half percent, Ventspils - by a quarter, and Tallinn - by 15 and a half percent. At the same time, Lithuanian Klaipeda even managed to show a certain growth - by almost 6 percent.
According to the estimates of only the Riga authorities, they did not receive 40 million euros due to the loss of Russian goods, which was very sensitive throughout the state. In general, cargo transit brings about one billion dollars a year to the Latvian economy.
Opportunities and cargo turnover
It is worth noting that all this happens in ports, which for many years have been designed for maximum load and large flow of goods. The total cargo turnover of the Baltic ports is impressive. In the three largest ports, it is about 76 million tons per year.
The Freeport of Riga, located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, handles 33.7 million tons of cargo. Through Klaipeda, which is considered the largest and most important transport center of Lithuania, about 24 million tons. Moreover, it is he who is considered the northernmost ice-free port of the entire Baltic Sea.
About 19 million tons per year passes through the port of Tallinn. This is the cargo turnover of the Baltic ports.
Domino effect
Refusal of transshipment through the ports of the Baltic states led to a drop in indicators in other types of traffic. The volume of Latvian railways fell by 20 percent; the domino effect also affects the service sector. Employment is declining, and unemployment is increasing accordingly. According to experts, the loss of only one workplace in the transport sector entails the loss of two more full-fledged workers in the service sector.
Moreover, if Latvia suffered the most, then in Estonia and Lithuania the loss of oil flows was not reflected so much. In Klaipeda, initially, the volumes of transshipment of Russian goods did not exceed six percent of the total cargo turnover. Therefore, when it became known that Russia would no longer use the ports of the Baltic states, they did not feel heavy losses in Klaipeda. Moreover, oil and oil products here have never been transported.
The so-called "fuel oil" specialization has a port in Tallinn. At the same time, Transneft, first of all, sends light petroleum products for export. Therefore, a catastrophic drop in freight turnover here is associated with a decrease in orders from partners in the European Union than with the influence of Russian business.
At the same time, indirectly, Moscow’s decision to abandon the Baltic ports affected both Estonia and Lithuania. The fact is that after the decision to transfer the transit of petroleum products to Russian ports, competition between all Baltic ports in other segments of the turnover sharply increased. So, according to the law of communicating vessels, this as a result had an effect on everyone without exception.
European sanctions
Everyone began to solve these problems in his own way. Someone by introducing more attractive tariffs and improving the quality of work, some went to make their own population pay for the anti-Russian course of the Baltic politicians. Such an opinion, at least, is expressed by most domestic political scientists.
This became especially noticeable after 2015, when the European Union introduced economic sanctions against the Russian Federation. It is obvious that the prosperity of the Baltic coastal cities in many respects depends precisely on the favorable relations between Russia and Europe. In this case, the sanctions began to affect the fact that the drop in transit and cargo turnover only increased.
Moreover, this was also affected by the fact that the Baltic countries themselves, as EU members, were forced to support the sanctions. A striking example is the Estonian icebreaker Botnica. After Estonia supported the sanctions against the Russian Federation, it could not fulfill the contracts concluded with Rosneft. As a result, his idle time at the port of Tallinn began to cost the state treasury a loss of 250 thousand euros every month.
Russian harbors
Against this background, the expected increase in cargo turnover in Russian ports every year. At the same time, the main increase is going through ports located on the Black Sea, they began to be used in large quantities in the first place. The southern coastal cities began to systematically pull over the cargo turnover that existed between Russia and the European Union.
Outstanding results were also demonstrated by domestic ports in the Baltic. For example, Ust-Luga - a port bypassing the Baltic States, in which large investments are made, it can already compete with Tallinn harbor. Over ten years, cargo turnover in it has grown 20 times, now amounting to almost 90 million tons per year.
Power of domestic ports
In recent years, the capacity of all domestic ports has been increasing. On average, at 20 million tons per year. Such impressive results have been achieved thanks to serious investments in their infrastructure. Each year they amounted to about 25 billion rubles. Moreover, it has always been especially noted that all projects are implemented as part of a public-private partnership, that is, two rubles of private investment account for one ruble from the treasury.
It is worth noting that much has already been done in redirecting domestic coal, hydrocarbons and fertilizers to Russian harbors. At the same time, more work remains to be done in other segments.
Infrastructure development
An important role in this is played by Russia's desire to develop its own infrastructure in this area. The container transport scheme through the Baltic ports, which included not only ports, but also the Latvian railway, no longer works.
The implementation of the project to create a customs warehouse that meets all modern requirements should cause another tangible blow to the freight traffic of these states. The Phoenix company will be engaged in this work. It will appear in the large port of St. Petersburg, where two large customs warehouses with large capacities are already functioning.
All these years, the ownership of Russian business in the ports of the Baltic countries has been steadily declining. At the moment, it has been reduced to almost nothing.
The fight for China
An important issue for both the Baltic and Russian ports remains Chinese transit. This is a tidbit that everyone wants to grab for themselves. Most of the cargo from China goes through container shipping, currently about half of this volume is in the Baltic states.
In Tallinn, they make up 80 percent of the total container turnover, in Riga - 60 percent, and in the Finnish port of Hamina-Kotka - about a third. Recently, the situation in this extremely highly profitable segment has escalated. Especially after the opening of the new Russian port of Bronka. It is planned that he will be able to reorient himself on cargo from the remaining Baltic ports.
Container Shipping
It is noted that this will not be as easy as with raw materials. In recent years, the transportation of containers and cars has been significantly reduced, which was facilitated by the imperfection of the Russian customs administration and more attractive conditions for transshipment and storage at foreign ports.
Russia expects to win competition for the transit of Chinese goods through the implementation of the New Silk Road project. According to experts, this is the only way to exclude Latvia from this chain. To this end, much is already being done, for example, a dry port is equipped in the territory of the Kaliningrad region. It is being built in the Chernyakhovsk industrial park.
