Port of Riga cargo turnover up 6.7% in Q1 2015
The Port of Riga concluded the 1st quarter of 2015 with the 6.7% increase of cargo turnover compared to the same period of the last year. Overall, 10.58 million tons of various cargos were handled at the port of Riga during the first three months, the company said in its press release.
Overall, 36.6 million tons were handled at the Baltic ports - Riga, Klaipeda, Butinge, Tallinn, Ventspils and Liepaja - in the first quarter of 2015, which is by 5.7% less than during the first three months of the last year. Among these seven ports only Riga and Klaipeda demonstrated an increase - Riga (+ 6.7%) and Klaipeda (+3.8%), as well as Butinge oil terminal. The largest decline in cargo turnover is registered at the port of Tallinn (-24%).
The dry bulk cargo segment, which continues to increase its share in the total Riga port’s cargo structure, is traditionally a dominating segment at the port of Riga. Almost 6 million tons were handled in the dry bulk segment in general during three months, which is by 13.4% more than in the first months of the previous year.
The most important group is the coal freight - and its traffic at the port of Riga continues to grow. 3.94 million tons of coal were handled during three months of the current year, which is by 15.1% more than during the last year's first quarter. Similarly, the rapid growth is demonstrated by mineral fertilizers - this year the handled amount is by 39.2% more than last year. It is expected that this cargo segment will maintain positive dynamics, due to the fact that the new fertilizer terminal started working at full capacity. A positive trend is a peat traffic growth (+ 52.3%); in contrast to the majority of transit cargoes handled at the port of Riga, peat is an export commodity of local origin. The unidentified bulk cargo group demonstrated increase of 16.3%.
1.68 million tons were handled in General cargo segment this year, which means decline of the freight turnover by 7.4% compared to the previous year. Container transshipment maintains leading position (+1.3); there is a decrease in turnover of almost all other cargo groups.
The upward trend of liquid cargo volume growth started in the beginning of the last year, and this year the trend continues at the port of Riga. However, growth dynamics has become slower and reached 3.2%. Overall, 2.92 million tons were handled in liquid cargo segment at the port of Riga during the first three months of the current year.
94,718 passengers were served at the port of Riga during the first three months of the current year.
