The representatives of Metoil, a subsidiary of Achemos Grupė (Achema Group), which deals in the forwarding of petroleum products from Belarus, told the daily that higher flows started moving through the port of Klaipėda in March but the effects would be temporary.
The flows would be balanced this month already, Andrejus Savickis, deputy CEO and director of commerce at Metoil, which has been operating the light petroleum products terminal Krovinių Terminalas (Cargo Terminal) since the second half of 2010, told the daily.
“Belarus’ cargo flows will be shipped as usual from April. The majority of shipments are transported under long-term contracts specifying specific reloading ports. Hence I do not think that the flows of petroleum products produced in Belarus could increase through the port of Klaipėda in the nearest time. Moreover, the terminal of Krovinių Terminalas handles loads under long-term contracts and does not have a possibility to raise handling volumes much,” he said.
Last year the company reloaded 1.3 million tons of petroleum products, of which 20 percent were produced in Belarus, through Krovinių Terminalas, he said. This year Metoil plans to reload through the terminal some 1.7 million tons of cargo, 50 percent of which should be the petroleum products from Belarus.