Cargo traffic at the Free Port of Riga in January-August increased by 9.6% compared with the same period last year, to 24,755,200 tons, the Port Authority said.
Shipments of coal rose 12.2% year-on-year to 9.99 million tons, oil products volume was up 6% to 5.669 million tons. Handling of timber cargo fell 13.8% from last year’s number to 1.610 million tons, ore traffic plummeted by 75.8% to 93,900 tons, exports of pellets climbed by 0.6% to 685,600 tons, shipments of construction materials slumped by 80.7% to 63,400, while scrap metal volume increased by 18.3% to 428,300 tons.
Port of Riga container throughput rose 24.9% from a year earlier to 242,642 TEUs. Passenger traffic was up 5.5% to 598,333 people, 74,886 of them (+27.8%) were transported by cruise ships.
Latvia-based Free Port of Riga lies on both banks of the River Daugava (Western Dvina), The port encompasses 6.348 hectares, including 13,818-meter waterfront with berths max depths of 16 meters (ship draft - 12.2 m). Transit cargoes account for 80 percent of overall freight traffic moved to / from the CIS countries. In 2011, cargo throughput at the Port of Riga rose 11.8 percent year-over-year to 34.07 million tons.