The Baltic Container Terminal in Riga, Latvia, commenced its operating activities in the Freeport of Riga in 1996. In the early eighties the Port of Riga was chosen as the only port in the Baltic States ideal for the construction of a container terminal to meet the constantly growing demand for container traffic to and from the main industrial centres of the ex-Soviet Union.

Maintaining its importance as a gateway to the Commonwealth of Independent States, along with significant investments made in its infrastructure, equipment and personnel training in the past two decades, it has since become the fastest growing container terminal in the Baltic States in terms of volumes handled. 

Mariner recognised the potential that a seaport container terminal in Riga represented back in 1996, and in 1999 it acquired the full shareholding interest in BCT after having a minority shareholding interest.

Riga has other advantages too. It is the largest city in the Baltic region. The region represents a road and rail infrastructure that is central to trade into and out of the Baltic States, the Russian hinterland and northern Europe. And because liberal legislation and a strict monetary policy have been implemented throughout Latvia, the Riga region has become an attractive focus for foreign investment.

Mariner has a proven track record with shipping lines and its other clients for the quality of its work as well as delivering industry standards in productivity, safety and client service at BCT.

Key to BCT’s emergence as a major player in Riga’s port management is its focus on innovation, efficiency and productivity through its leadership in IT development.

Mariner continually invests in its IT and logistics infrastructure as well as programmes to build a competitive response to the ever-changing dynamics of world trade and the container shipping industry. Now, BCT has a comprehensive range of facilities and services to offer shipping lines and other clients.

Besides owning all the movable assets of the terminal required to efficiently handle containers, BCT features a state-of-the-art container-tracking system, NAVIS Sparcs, which is proven in the efficient running of Mariner’s integrated terminal management operations for its customers.

The Freeport of Riga is a regional port that services cargo vessels operating in the Baltic region, particularly in trade with the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Mariner’s BCT covers 57 hectares on an island at the mouth of the river Daugava with favourable navigation at the terminal all year round and with no tide to influence its 24/7 operation. The terminal enjoys optimum connectivity by rail and road to the major cities of the four countries that border Latvia: Russia, Estonia, Lithuania and Belarus.

Mariner is now investing a fresh €20 million in the Riga project, and it also plans further expansion in the Baltic region and beyond.

The €20 million investment will go towards increasing yard capacity and acquiring new equipment, including a new ship-to-shore quay crane to be commissioned by mid-2014. The figure also includes additional warehousing that was commissioned in December 2013 and is already operating at full capacity.

Over the next 10 years, BCT plans to double its warehousing capacity, further expand the yard area, continue to invest in new mobile equipment and increase the terminal’s capacity to 600,000 TEUs from the current 450,000 TEUs.

Managing director Aldis Zieds and Finance Director Gerard Sammut took us on a tour to the Freeport last week.

They explained the various stages in the future expansion of the Freeport. I had visited the Freeport in 2002 and thus could see the huge improvements that have been made in the intervening period.

It already has 570,000 square metres of land and one immediate project is to expand the area where containers are stacked thus increasing the operational range of the Freeport.

It also plans to lengthen the existing 450 metres of quay with 12.5m alongside depth with a further 250 metres so as to accommodate more ships.

It also intends to increase the existing container handling equipment including three ship-to-shore quay cranes, six RMGs (four on the yard and two on the rails) and six reach stackers with a new giant crane that will enable it to reach the bigger ships that may be attracted.

It also intends to increase the actual over 19,000 square metres of warehousing with more warehousing, as this has been found to be a very useful addition to the Freeport’s operations.

The Riga Freeport operates on a very different method than, for example, the Malta Freeport. The latter exists mainly for transhipment with a very small percentage of goods that are unloaded for the Maltese market.

The Riga Freeport, on the contrary, has very little transhipment and most of the goods, mostly from feeder vessels and some mother vessels, are loaded on to trucks and railway carriers on their way to various landside destinations.

While in the past, most goods were delivered via rail, today after liberalisation, it has been found that most traders find it more convenient to carry goods via trucks.

There is an extremely interesting IT system in use that logs trucks as they arrive, which checks they are carrying the right container and tells the driver when and where he is to deliver his container. Everything is done with meticulous precision and the use of cameras. The IT systems allow very little mistakes and most mistakes can be quickly tracked and resolved.

The camera system also helps clarify matters when claims for damages are made since it establishes clearly in what state the container reached shore or the ship. The system is automatic and can also be accessed in real time by customers, thus eliminating further squabbles.

In 2013, BCT handled a record volume of containers, amounting to over 70% of all containers in the Riga Freeport.

BCT is Mariner’s longest standing investment. In the past 18 years, BCT has grown to become the largest and fastest-growing container handling facility in the Baltic States.

“Our geographic preferences for expansion have us pursuing opportunities in the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Sea regions as well as the UK and the Mediterranean. Our strategy is to strike a balance between acquiring terminals which are already in operation and developing new terminals, and to sustain a fiscally strong position for the group,” said Marin Hili, chairman and CEO of Mariner.

“We look for terminal projects with the potential for growth, either due to the market being less mature or the terminal being underdeveloped. Our experience and competitive strengths enable us to add value in this way,” he added.

The company has made major investments in three terminals – the Baltic Container Terminal in Riga, Latvia; the Terminal Intermodale Venezia in Venice, Italy, and; the recently acquired, Durres Container Terminal in Durres, Albania.

The terminals act as vital gatekeepers to logistics networks on which international, regional and local economies depend.

In 2012, Mariner acquired a 48% shareholding in Durres Container Terminal (DCT) in Albania, together with what is the overall management of the largest container terminal in Albania. The terminal acts as the principal gateway for containerised cargo. Durres handles some 80% of all national seaborne trade primarily serving the Albanian market.

In 2013, Mariner was selected as the preferred operator for the development of a container terminal in Scotland – the Rosyth International Container Terminal (RICT). RICT is to be developed as a gateway terminal within Port Babcock Rosyth which is owned and operated by Babcock Mariner. The site, on the north bank of the Firth of Forth, is a short distance away from the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

BCT is owned by Mariner Finance Baltic (MFB), a new subsidiary set up last year to hold Mariner’s investment in BCT. Mariner Finance Baltic has a share capital of €40 million and is fully owned by Maltese company Mariner Capital Limited, whose shareholders are Marin Hili, Edward Hili and Michela Borg.

The company was the largest to be registered in Latvia last year, according to a recent report by the country’s main news agency Leta News.