Latvian ports handled 27.072 million tons of freight in the first five months of this year, down by 7.5% YoY, according to data compiled by Transport Ministry.
The majority of freight handled by Latvia’s ports consisted of bulk cargoes – 14,701,000 tons, down by 6.7%. The volume of coal handled by ports was 7,852,000 tons, down by 12.6% less. The volume of chemical bulk cargoes was 1,148,000 tons (-10%). The volume of wood chips handled by ports was 692,500 tons, down by 5.1%.
Latvian ports also handled a total of 6,788,888 tons of liquid cargoes in the first five months, down by 23.9%. The majority of those cargoes (6,417,000 tons) consisted of oil products.
As for general freight, Latvian ports handled 5,683,000 tons in the first five months, up by 22.1% YoY. 2,034,000 tons of general cargoes were transported in containers, up by 9.5% more. This includes 1,861,000 tons of wood (+45.6%) and 1,459,000 tons of roll on/roll off cargoes (+17.3%).
Cargo turnover-wise Riga Freeport was in the lead among Latvia’s ports in the first five months. The port handled a total of 14,705,000 tons, up by 1.2% YoY. Ventspils port was the second with cargo turnover of 8,379,000 tons, down by 22.2%. Liepaja port is the third with cargo turnover of 3,185,000 tons, up by 10.2%.
As for smaller ports, Skulte’s port was in the lead cargo turnover-wise – 390,200 tons (+7.8%), followed by Mersrags port with 206,500 tons (+7.8%), and Salacgriva port with 168,000 tons (+29.2%).
In total, Latvia’s ports handled 802,800 tons of cargoes in the first five months of 2018, up by 12.9% YoY. (BNN/Business World Magazine)