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2.3. Road Freight
Road traffic and road haulage is each country's strong economic component and provides the
country's economic growth and well-being of people and the movement of goods in the country.
The total length of roads and streets Latvia is 73 2059 km, including national highways - 20,131
km. The Latvian road network is well-developed but there is necessity for improvement of road
surface quality. Road quality in Latvia is one of worst in Europe - according to European
Commission data only in Malta and Rumania roads quality are worse. That is explained by lack
of investment in the road infrastructure as significant part of payments collected from users of
the transport is not invested in the roads but utilized by central budget.
All major road connections are included in the Trans-European Transport Network TEN-T and
most significant investments are made directly to these routes. This ensures qualitative traffic
from Latvian ports to neighbouring Russia and Belarus. The Via Baltic is the most important
transport corridor, traversing Latvia in a north-south direction. Via Baltic is also a European
transport corridor - route E67. It connects European cities Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas and
Warsaw, and Riga, Kaliningrad and Gdansk. Traffic congestion usually are observed in the
morning and afternoon hours only in Riga. This is a great advantage for transit flow and allows
driving with relatively short interruption.
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Riga Universal Terminal (RUT) operates in the Port of Riga since 2001. RUT today handles more than 3.mil
tons of cargoes annually and is a leading player in the handling of wood products and frozen food cargoes. RUT's
multipurpose terminal operation also includes the loading & unloading of containers, bulk cargoes and general
cargoes, cold storage and rail transport. The Terminal has certified quality, environment protection and working
safety management system and complies with ISPS code regulations. In April 2013, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui")
through its subsidiary Portek International Pte. Ltd. ("Portek"), acquired an 80% equity stake in RUT. Year later
Portek/Mitsui acquired other balance 20%. Therefore now RUT is 100% subsidiary of Portek/Mitsui. Through this
transaction, RUT can gain from Portek’s equipment engineering, port operation experience and close links with
shipping lines and cargo owners. Portek, through RUT, can develop its reach into the container, wood and frozen
food handling markets in and around the Baltic Sea. Portek International Pte Ltd. headquartered in Singapore,
Portek is a global medium-sized terminal operator and port equipment engineering solutions provider, with offices
in over 9 countries throughout Africa, Europe and Asia. Portek currently operates and manages 3 terminals in
Indonesia, 2 in Gabon, 1 in Algeria, 1 in Malta and inland cargo handling and storage facility in Rwanda. Mitsui
& Co., Ltd. The Mitsui & Co., Ltd was incorporated in Japan on 25 July 1947, which is a veritable household
name with more than 130 years of history. Together with its subsidiaries, it operates one of the world's most
diversified comprehensive trading, investment, and service companies.
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Riga Fertilizer Terminal LLC (RFT) is a joint venture founded by Riga Commercial Port LLC and Uralchem
Freight Limited, a daughter enterprise of OJSC Uralchem. Northern Europe’s most advanced and safest terminal
for mineral fertilizer transhipment and short-term storage was launched at the end of 2013. The preparatory
infrastructure works on the terminal site were commenced in 2011. The total investment in the project exceeds 60
million Euros. In the first phase, the annual terminal capacity is 2 million tonnes. The construction of the terminal
is a good example of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, Russia and Latvia. RFT is one of
the few terminals in the port of Riga that provide manufacturer-owned cargo transhipment. Ships are delivering
fertilizers from Riga to South America, China, India, Europe, Australia and many other destinations. Uralchem is
currently a major player in the global fertilizer market, supplying its products to more than 60 countries. It is one
of the largest nitrogen and phosphor fertilizer companies in the Russian Federation and the CIS with facilities
available for annual production of over 2.5 million tonnes of ammonium nitrate, 2.8 million tonnes of ammonia,
0.8 million tonnes of mono- and diammonia phosphate, 0.8 million tonnes of complex fertilizers, and 1.2 million
tonnes of urea.
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Unlike other transport sectors Latvian road carriers have demonstrated outstanding flexibility
to the new geopolitical situation and decrease of cargo flow from Russia. That transport sector
was able to re-focus to new markets in the Western Europe and find new market niches. Latvian
road carriers are active in the international transport market. In Latvia there is one of the newest,
most modern, EU compliant and largest road transport parks in Europe. Latvian transport fleet
is environmentally friendly as almost 60% of the fleet are EURO VI or V environmental class
vehicles, 6% - EURO IV, 13% - EURO III and only 22% are EURO II (or less)
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. So in terms
of vehicles fleet quality it is enough competitive to service customer in Western European
countries where environmental requirements are very strict. There are nearly four thousand
licensed international road hauliers and around 300 local road transport carriers in Latvia.
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