Klaipeda is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the third largest city with the only seaport in Lithuania, capital of Klaipeda County.

The city has a complex recorded history, partially due to the combined regional importance of the usually ice-free Port of Klaipeda at the mouth of the Akmena-Dane River. It was controlled by successive German states until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. As a result of the 1923 Klaipeda Revolt it was annexed by Lithuania and has remained with Lithuania to this day, except between 1939 and 1945 when it was returned to Germany following the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania and Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (between Germany and the Soviet Union).

The population has shrunk from the city to its suburbs and the hinterland. The number of inhabitants of Klaipeda city shrank from 202,929 in 1989 to 162,360 in 2011, but the urban zone of Klaipeda expanded well into the suburbs, which sprang up around the city and surrounded it from three sides. These are well integrated with the city (city bus lines, city water supply, etc.) and the majority of inhabitants of these suburbs work in Klaipeda. According to data from the Department of Statistics, there are 212,302 permanent inhabitants (as of 2020) in Klaipeda city and Klaipeda district municipalities combined. Popular seaside resorts found close to Klaipeda are Neringa to the south on the Curonian Spit and Palanga to the north.

The Port of Klaipeda is the principal ice-free port on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. It is the most important Lithuanian transportation hub, connecting sea, land and railway routes from East to West. Klaipeda is a multipurpose, universal, deep-water port. Nineteen big stevedoring companies, ship-repair and shipbuilding yards operate within the port and all marine business and cargo handling services are rendered.

The annual port cargo handling capacity is up to 40 Mt. The port operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round.