Becauce of its favorable geographical placement and ice-free port, Ventspils is a well-known transit corridor between East and West already since medieval times. The German Crusaders came to the Baltic Sea Region in the 13th century and built one of their fortresses at the estuary of the river Venta. The first primitive ship berths were built in order to accept merchant vessels and city of Ventspils started to gradually develop by the fortress. Ventspils started to flourish in the next centuries. It became a member of the Hanseatic League of trading cities and the leading port and manufacturing center of the Kurzeme Duchy in the 17th century. The time of Duke Jacob (1642-1682) is considered to be that of greatest prosperity of the city of Ventspils. Unfortunately, the successors of the Duke were not so active and the former busy life of the port stopped in 1682. The Duchy of Kurzeme was incorporated into the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century and Ventspils started to regain its former status as a strategically important transport center. The import and export of Russian goods to Western Europe grew rapidly and, as most of the Russian ports on the Baltic Sea were frozen for almost half the year, more and more attention was devoted to the ice-free port of Ventspils.
 

Construction works of unprecedented volume were started at the port at the end of the 19th century. New berths, moles, storehouses and storage cellars were built and an elevator with a grain-dryer imported from Japan was installed – it had no equivalent anywhere in the world. The construction of the railway line Moscow-Ventspils was completed at the beginning of the 20th century, linking Ventspils to common railway system of the Russian Empire. Thus, in 1912 Ventspils throughput was higher than in Liepaja, but the development of the port was interrupted by 1st World War.
 

During the first period of Latvia’s independence Ventspils lost its significance and began to stagnate. Timber transshipments dominated in the port, and the level of mechanization significantly lagged behind the dynamic operations of pre-war period. The port and the city were substantially damaged also during the 2nd World War.

During the 50-ies Ventspils port developed gradually identifying specific types of operations and introducing corresponding manufacturing (Fishery harbor and fish processing plant, state border guards, processing and exports of timber). A new port development plan is elaborated and designing works are accomplished. The decision is accepted to develop Ventspils as leading Soviet processing and export center of crude oil, oil products and other cargoes. During 60-ies Ventspils again becomes an important transit center.