Otherwise, they have flooded in. The cost of visiting the Port of Riga by cruise ships will increase by 10-15% 0 113

The administration explained that with the increase in the volume of waste that cruise liners discharge at the port, the port's expenses for waste disposal are also rising.

In this regard, the sanitary fee rate for cruise ships has been revised. Starting today, the sanitary fee for cruise ships at the Port of Riga will increase 2.5 times — from 3.2 cents per gross ton (GT) to 8 cents per GT.

Due to these changes, the total expenses of cruise ships for visiting the Port of Riga will increase by approximately 10-15% depending on the size of the vessel, the administration reported.

A message from the administration of the Freeport of Riga in the official publication "Latvijas vēstnesis" indicates that at the same time, the sanitary fee rate for passenger ships and passenger-cargo ships will increase threefold — from 2.2 cents per GT to 6.8 cents per GT. The administration of the free zone explains that this rate corresponds to the sanitary fee rate currently established in the Port of Riga for all other vessels, except for cruise ships.

The report states that last year the administration selected a service provider for the reception and disposal of waste generated by vessels through an open competition. During the term of the concluded procurement contract, the administration settles with the service provider based on the actual amount of ship waste transferred and in accordance with the provider's tariffs.

Thus, the new procedure replaced the previously existing practice, where the remuneration to the service provider was determined as a mutually agreed percentage of the revenues from sanitary fees.

The freeport clarifies that the sanitary fee must be paid by all vessels entering the port, regardless of the amount of waste discharged, even if the vessel does not discharge waste at the port. The amount of the sanitary fee for a vessel does not change with different visits to the port, even if in one case the amount of waste discharged is greater than in another.

According to the tariffs of the Port of Riga, until now, a lower sanitary fee rate was applied to cruise ships than to cargo ships — 3.2 cents per GT and 6.8 cents per GT, respectively. The application of such a rate was possible at a time when the administration's payment to the service provider was not directly linked to the actual volume of waste discharged by each vessel, but corresponded to a percentage share of the revenues from sanitary fees.

According to representatives of the freeport, thus, the total revenues from sanitary fees paid by all vessels covered all expenses for waste management, as cases where a vessel discharged a relatively large amount of waste were compensated by sanitary fees paid by vessels that discharged less waste or did not discharge any at all.

Due to the change in the payment procedure for the reception and disposal of waste generated by vessels, the tariffs for services, on the one hand, and the sanitary fees paid by cruise ships, on the other hand, led to a situation where the actual costs of waste management for cruise ships and, consequently, the fee for management paid to the service provider, exceeded the revenues from sanitary fees paid by cruise ships several times. In this regard, it was necessary to revise the sanitary fee rate established for cruise ships.

The freeport also reported that changes are planned to be made to port fees regarding the revision of maximum limit tariffs for services provided to vessels — waste and polluted water reception, use of floating facilities, and supply of drinking water. The changes concern limit tariffs in accordance with rising costs and the actual situation in the service provision sector. At the same time, the changes will affect specific service providers, the freeport reported.

As previously reported, in 2024, a total of 80,870 cruise passengers were serviced at the Port of Riga, which is 1% less than in 2023, when 81,681 cruise passengers were serviced.