OREANDA-NEWS. September 09, 2010. The Port Authority of Klaipeda (Lithuania) is considering the reviewing of the port dues, to raise them in proportion to the increasing traffic, Lithuania Courier reports citing the newspaper Verslo Zinios.

The operators of port companies and ship owners have not yet commented on the possible port dues hike. However, they hope the decisions would be "reasonable" and will not affect the freight turnover growth at the port.

"We'll have to overhaul the port dues scheme, and to focus largely on the ship tonnage. We stake on larger vessels, although tonnage duty would make up only one third of the fees we receive", says the Economics and Finance Director of Klaipeda Port Martynas Armonaitis.

This year's charges per ton, compared with last year, declined by almost 0,5 litas, Mr. Armonaitis said, adding that the port has sufficient funds for investment. The Port Authority intends to undertake calculations to establish the most appropriate fees scheme, and if the changes are approved, they could become effective early next year.

In August, port dues in Klaipeda made up 10.2 million litas, which is slightly less than the amount the port received last year.

State-run Port of Klaipeda, the northernmost ice-free port on the East coast of the Baltic Sea, is the largest Lithuanian transport hub, connecting sea and inland traffic lanes. Currently, there are 17 stevedores, shipyards and other companies operating at the port, providing ranged forwarding and logistics services. Freight turnover of the Port of Klaipeda rose in August by 3.2% to 2.5 million tons of cargo.