Latvia’s first hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO)/sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facility is under construction at the Port of Riga, Biofuels Digest reported.
Amber Flow Fuels company had invested €120M (US$140M) in the project in Kundziņsala, the 28 July report said.
The company would produce HVO and SAF at the site by 2027, Biofuels Digest wrote.
Once operational, the facility would supply 100% of the required SAF for the Baltic market, with 70% of produced SAF exported, increasing Latvian export values by at least €150M (US$175M), the report said.
With at least seven new companies – cargo terminals, logistics centres, energy companies and smart manufacturing plants – due to start operations in Kundziņsala, bringing total investment in the area to at least €500M (US$583.6M), the area is emerging as the new industrial centre of Riga, according to a 16 July report on Latvia’s Ministry of Economics website.
Kundziņsala is the container logistics centre of the Port of Riga, handling 72% of all sea containers in Latvia and six of the nine active port companies in Kundziņsala involved in containerised cargo handling, according to the Ministry of Economics.
“The Port of Riga is an important instrument of the country’s economic security, providing a … corridor for exports and imports, as well as a … location for critical production facilities for the sustainability of the EU economy,” said Freeport of Riga CEO Ansis Zeltiņš.
The Port of Riga is the largest port in Latvia and the second largest port in the Baltic States, according to the port’s website.
In 2022, the port handled 23.5M tonnes of cargo, which was 49% of all sea-bound cargo handled in Latvian ports.
The Freeport of Riga’s terminals handle a range of cargo – dry bulk cargo, liquid bulk cargo and general cargo.
The main types of cargo handled in the port of Riga are timber, containers, agri-bulk, oil products, metals, fertilisers and coal.
