MSC raises US$43 million to build Lithuanian deep-water Klaipeda port

GENEVA's Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has arranged EUR32.5 million (US$43.1 million) in loan agreements with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and SEB Bankas to partially fund the expansion of its Lithuanian deep-water Klaipeda terminal.

Through the loan agreements MSC obtains EUR16.25 million from both SEB Bankas and the EBRD. SEB Bankas is the Lithuanian subsidiary of Sweden's SEB Banken.

The capital investment, which will run to EUR65 million over three years on the basic terminal, is expected to gain MSC's container capacity by 2016 by 300 per cent, said Lloyd's Loading List. The project will be managed by Klaipedos Smelte, MSC's stevedoring subsidiary in Lithuania.

The project is also expected to promote Klaipeda as a regional transhipment hub for the Baltic states as well as Russia, which is accessible by rail. At full build-out in 2016, it is expected to bring in large ships from all over the world, including the Far East.

"This port will operate at a totally new level. It will be more cost-efficient for exporters in the region," said Klaipedos Smelte CEO Rimantas Juska.