Freeport of Riga Authority says 33.3 million tons of cargo was handled at Riga port during 11 months of the current year, down by 8.6% YoY, while total cargo turnover decrease compared to last year continues to decline.
November has been successful for the port of Riga in coal segment – 1.1 million tons of coal cargo was handled. For the third consecutive month more than 1 million tons of coal has been handled at the Freeport of Riga. The main reason for the increase in coal cargo is a significant increase in coal prices on the European markets and increased transit of Russian coal via the port of Riga.
The month of November has been successful for the port of Riga in timber handling, especially wood pellets and logs. Total timber (logs, sawn timber, wood chips, wood pellets and other wood materials) handling volume in November increased by 35% MoM. Within 11 months the total amount of 3.7 million tons of various timber cargo have been handled at the port.
19.7 million tons of dry bulk cargo was handled at the Port of Riga during 11 months. Along with coal transshipment growth, this year’s 11-month total dry bulk indicator lags behind the 2015 relevant period indicator only by 6.2%. Within the bulk cargo group cereals and cereal products demonstrate stable growth – cereals and cereal products (+19.2% YoY) and fertilizers (+7.4%).
In early November, the Port of Riga serviced this year’s biggest ship. The bulker “MINI”, with a length of 255 meters and deadweight of 114 563 tons, delivered from Riga 107.8 thousand tons of anthracite coal.
Due to low liquid cargo turnover and continued strong performance of general cargo segment, for several consecutive months general cargo volumes exceed those of liquid cargo. In general, the total current year’s eleven months’ turnover has reached 6 million tons, up by 4.9% YoY. Particularly encouraging is the trend of container cargo volumes increase compared to the previous year. During eleven months of 2016, the port handled 360 thousand TEU of containerized cargo, up by 7.5% YoY. Comparing the month of November to the previous year’s November, container cargo turnover has increased by 22%. General cargo segment has demonstrated growth in throughput of ro-ro, cereals, metals, fish products and chemical general cargoes. (Portnews/Business World Magazine)
