Port of Liepaja cargo volume soars 47.7 percent
Cargo throughput at the Port of Liepaja (Latvia) in January-July 2012 soared by 47.7% compared to the same period last year, to 4.057 million tons, the Port Authority said.
In the reporting period, shipments of grain surged by 2.42 times to 1.518 million tons, coal traffic increased by 1.57 times to 136,400 tons, shipments of construction materials rose 7.6 % to 297,400 tons. The seven-month volume of oil products plummeted by nearly 56.2% to 134,400 tons while transshipment of crude oil rose 14.3% to 63,100 tons.
Container traffic grew by 34.5 % to 2,531 TEUs, handling of Ro-Ro cargo surged by 56.6% to 16,034 units. The number of ship calls increased by 23% to 1047 units. Passenger traffic through the port rebounded by 56.2% to 17,515 people.
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 2011, Liepaja handled 4.85 million tons of cargo.