Port of Liepaja cargo traffic up 10.3 percent in Jan-Sept
Throughput of the port of Liepaja in January-September 2011 grew by 10.3% compared to the same period of last year, to 3.49 million tons, the Port Authority said.
Grain shipments declined by 10% year-on-year, to 867,800 tons, the volume of construction materials more than doubled from last year’s figures, to 409,300 tons, handling of timber cargo shrank by 23.7% to 535,400 tons, scrap metal transshipment soared 58% to 263,300 tons.
Nine-month volume of ferrous metals slumped by nearly 30% to 251,000 tons, shipments of non-ferrous metals increased by more than 2.46 times to 95,700 tons. The volume of oil products rose by 19% to 366,600 tons, of coal - increased as much as 1.8 times to 98,600 tons. Handling of crude oil decreased by 19% to 71,900 tons, of chemical goods - by 40.3% to 31,300 tons.
In January-September, container traffic surged by more than twofold, to 2,413 TEUs. Rolling cargo volume grew by 2.48 times to 13,232 units.
The number of ship calls increased by 6.8% to 1,075 vessels. Passenger traffic increased by 2.3 times to 14 thousand 836 people.
Cargo throughput of the port in September amounted to 401,400 tons.
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.