KLAIPĖDA, Lithuania — The public tender to build a new passenger and ferry terminal at the busier-than-ever Port of Klaipėda was awarded to the Latvian bridge construction company Latvijas Tilti on Tuesday.

The project will cost the port 112 million litai (€32 million) and increase the port’s overall capacity as it 2010 is set to be a new record for handling for Klaipėda despite the lingering economic crisis. The port authority announced that during the first four months of this year, handling increased 16.8 percent year-on-year.

”We are competing with Latvian and Estonian ports. Any upgrades there brings upgrades to them and if we don’t upgrade it is a disadvantage to us,” Artūras Drungilas, Klaipėda Port Authority’s director of marketing, told Baltic Reports. Indeed, Riga is pumping millions of lats into expanding its own port.

Latvijas Tilti has been involved with a number of bridges in Latvia, including Riga’s suspension bridge, railroad bridge and the troubled Southern Bridge.

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