Liepāja Special Economic Zone
Liepaja Special Economic Zone (Latvian: Liepājas SEZ) – is the only special economic zone in Baltics consisting of seaport, industrial area and international airport. Liepāja Special Economic zone was established in 1997 to develop port operations, cargo handling, logistics, manufacturing and air transportation. The goal of the Liepāja SEZ is to attract investments for the development of the port and manufacturing and creation of new working places.
| Industry | Port operations: cargo storage & transhipment, ship repair;
Metalworking: machinery, steel structures & automotive; Textile: fabrics, lingerie, medical & hygiene products; Composite and plastics; Electromechanics; Aviation: International airport operations & pilot training; |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | |
Number of employees | >2500 |
| Website | liepaja-sez |
Companies with SEZ status operating in the free zone have the right to the following tax exemptions:
Direct tax rebates
- 80% rebate on the applicable Corporate Income Tax;
- 80% rebate on the applicable Property Tax.
Indirect tax reductions
- 0% rate of the Value Added Tax (VAT), applicable for virtually all supplies and services
- excise tax and customs duty exemptions
The Liepāja SEZ covers approximately 30 km2 (12 sq mi) which is almost 65% of the city's territory. The SEZ territory consists of:
- Port (3.7 km2 (1.4 sq mi) land territory, 8.1 km2 (3.1 sq mi) - port aquatorium). Industrial area of the town with total area of 5.4 km2 (2.1 sq mi)
- Liepāja International Airport with total area of 2.5 km2 (0.97 sq mi)
- Former military base Karosta with total area approximately 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi)
There are various business and industrial parks (VOBP, Liepaja Business Center, Lauma, Karosta Industrial Park, etc.), providing production facilities for business companies within the Liepaja SEZ territory.
Legislation
The Liepaja SEZ was established by the Special Economic Zone Law on the Liepaja Special Economic Zone. The Liepaja Special Economic Zone territorial borders are specified in the Appendix to the aforementioned Law. The Liepaja SEZ is also subject to the Law on Ports of Latvia.
LSEZ company investments
Achievements
In 2019, the fDi Magazine, which is the flagship publication for the fDi Intelligence portfolio, and is a publication from the Financial Times, granted the below mentioned awards to the Liepaja Special Economic Zone Authority:
- Investment of 45 million euro in the port infrastructure by the Liepaja SEZ Authority - dredging deeper access channels, building new access roads and railway parks – these are just a few recent large-scale port development projects, implemented by the Liepaja Special Economic Zone Authority. The Liepaja Port is the fastest growing port in the Baltic Sea region. In the last two years, the Liepaja Port, thanks to the efforts of the stevedoring companies, has made an increase of its cargo turnover by more than ten per cent and has reached a record cargo turnover of 7,54 million tons. Regular ferry line departures between Liepaja and Travemunde in Germany makes Liepaja port a gateway of new German car deliveries to the Baltic states. The port stevedoring companies are building new warehouses, open storage areas and are able to provide multimodal logistics solutions. All this, taken together, served as a substantial background to award the certificate for Port Development to the Liepaja SEZ Authority.
- The Liepaja Special Economic Zone is commended also for infrastructure upgrades. Currently, there are five active business parks operating in the Liepaja SEZ, offering almost 400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft) of production facilities. In 2019, the Liepaja SEZ received25 million EUR investment in the port infrastructure: dredging of the port waterway access canal and inner port to reach the depth of 14 m (46 ft) for servicing the Panamax type vessels, construction of a new berth to service the Panamax vessels, and implementing the breakwater repairs.
- Efforts of the stevedore and logistic companies: LSEZ SIA Duna increased its warehouse area up to 8,700 m2 (94,000 sq ft), LSEZ SIA, Mols L increased its warehouse area up to 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft), LSEZ SIA DanStore increased its warehouse area up to 27,000 m2 (290,000 sq ft), LSEZ SIA Baltex Bulk increased its warehouse area up to 18,000 m2 (190,000 sq ft), have ranked the Liepaja SEZ Authority among the specialism winners for Logistics.
- The Liepaja International Airport is integrated with Liepaja Special Economic Zone and offers daily flights operated by airBaltic airlines. In connection with the airport's runway renovation and upcoming technical training program, the air-Baltic Pilot Academy has decided to open a new flight base and aircraft maintenance center in the coming years to service Boeing aircraft. This is a result of complex and continuous efforts to attract long-term strategic partners for sustainable development of the airport of Liepaja, which have resulted in the specialism award by the fDI Magazine to the Liepaja SEZ Authority in Aviation.
- The Liepaja SEZ Authority has developed a number of employment attraction programs, that help the Liepaja SEZ tenants to attract skillful specialists and professionals. The programs consist of a variety of activities, such as the vacancy promotion in the website, promotion of manufacturing companies to students, including the site visits, as well as, the Latvian expats attraction program. This has also been assessed and commended by the fDI Magazine for Workforce Amenities.