Latvian Stevedoring Company Association (LSA) wants to see a competent and professional minister in charge of the country’s Ministry of Transport. The candidate must be experienced working in conditions of geopolitical and energy crises, as well as be able to ensure the sector’s sustained existence and development on a political and economic level.
After the recent meeting of parties composing the coalition, during which politicians discussed distribution of seats in ministries, LSA sent officials on open letter. In it, the organisation proposes candidates for the post of Minister of Transport to meet with representatives of the sector in order to discuss the development direction for the sector and the country’s sea ports.
The letter mentions: «Society and politicians in general have the impression that the Ministry of Transport, which is in charge of Latvia’s sea ports, transport, transit and logistics sector, is one of the most desired ministries».
«Reality of the situation is that the transport sector and sea ports have many serious and unresolved problems, resolving which requires a great deal of political responsibility, as well as inter-ministerial and mutual cooperation with the transport sector.»
«Creating a competent structure is essential to this goal’s implementation. This structure will need to be authorised to address the sector’s challenges in an expeditious manner without unnecessary bureaucracy and footballing from one ministry to the other, as well as establish cooperation-focused communication with sea port-based businesses and make constructive decisions,» as mentioned in the letter signed by LSA council chairman Āris Ozoliņš and his vices Ivars Landmanis and Dainis Babulis.
They explain: «Although every tonne of freight passing through Latvia’s territory generates EUR 10.7 for the economy, on a political level existing problems and possible solutions remain largely unaddressed.»
«We can see this when looking at the rushed sea port reform and lack of a nation-wide sea port development programme, as well well as the fact that the Latvian Port, Transit and Logistics Council, which is in charge of coordinating the national policy when it comes to port development, held meetings only four times over the past couple of years.»
This means many of the problems that require involvement from multiple ministries remain unresolved. This includes the topic of sanctions, maintenance of critical infrastructure, support for energy-intensive port companies, financial topics and many others, as mentioned in the letter from LSA.
The organisation believes the current redaction of the sea port reform is neither economically justified or legally possible to implement, which causes concerns for port-based companies and uncertainty in the decision-making process related to investments and development of future economic activities. This is why one of the primary goals of the future government’s declaration should be developing the port management model in line with OECD standards, and include representatives of local governments, businesses and the state in management.
In addition, it is also important to consider the influence the crises of recent years have had on the transport sector and the country’s ability to provide support to this sector. The industry has been in a state of crisis since 2014, which deepened even more due to the added impact from Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the geopolitical consequences that followed. In recent years there have been many measures implemented in order to refocus operations and reduce dependence on cross-border operations with Russia. However, this reorganisation and transformation of the sector largely depends on successful cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and the government, the association stresses.
«A heavy blow came from rapidly growing energy resource prices.»
Although nearly all port-based companies are energy-intensive, they are not included in the programme that provides aid to energy-intensive companies. Moreover, though creation of capital association is listed as a priority in the sea port reform, it remains unclear if newly-founded companies will be eligible for support for European funds. Nevertheless, investments in the development of port infrastructure in terms of energy diversification are very topical for port-based companies because this can help reduce costs and attract investments.
Considering the existing situation, once members of the future government have distributed their responsibilities, LSA will invite the party responsible for the Ministry of Transport and politician nominated for the seat to meet with representatives of the sector to discuss the topical problems and the future of Latvia’s transport, transit and logistical sectors.
Latvian Stevedoring Company Association represents port companies active in Liepaja, Riga and Ventspils. LSA is a development-focused cluster that ensures implementation of transformation and modernisation-focussed projects. To generate new value-added services, LSA implements new infrastructure projects, as well as creates jobs and maintains Latvian and Baltic exports through Latvian ports.