Cargo throughput of the port of Liepaja (Latvia) in the first half of this year increased by 16.8% to 2,36 million tons, the Port Authority statistics said.
In the reporting period handling of coal rose nearly twofold, to 72,400 tons, construction materials increase as much as 2.1 times to 200,800 tons, wood chips – by 3.2 times to 88,300 tons, petroleum products volume rose by 24.3% to 278,500 tons, diesel fuel – climbed 6.8% to 40,900 tons.
At the same time, handling of grain declined by 8.9% to 569,700 tons, crude oil transshipment fell by 20.1% to 50,500 tons, chemicals - by 2.5 times, to 18,000 tons ; timber cargo volume dropped by 24.2% to 363,400 tons.
Shipment of rolling cargoes also surged by nearly fourfold from last year’s numbrs, to 8,540 units.
Container traffic also increased by as much as 3 times to 1,470 TEUs.
The port handled 9,440 passengers, 3.7 times more than a year earlier.
The number of ship calls increased by 12.2%, to 732 vessels.
Port of Liepaja was founded in the 90s of last century at the former Soviet Union’s naval base. Liepaja ranks third port of Latvia by handled cargo volume. Half of the port’s cargo throughput is fueled by crude oil and bulk cargoes imported from the CIS countries, largely from Belorussia. In 2010, Liepaja handled 4,38 million tons of cargo, on a par with 2009’s figures.