Cargo traffic at the Free Port of Riga in January-October increased by 7.7% compared with the same period last year, to 30,308,200 tons, the Port Authority said.
Shipments of coal rose 14.1% year-on-year to 10,524 million tons, oil product transshipments increased by 4.1% to 6.568 million tons. Handling of timber cargo fell 13.1% from last year’s number to 1,981 million tons, ore traffic plummeted by 80% to 121,200 tons, exports of pellets fell 0.5% to 831,600 tons, shipments of construction materials slumped by 86.8% to 63,400, while scrap metal volume increased by 18.9% to 531,700 tons.
Port of Riga container throughput rose 20.9% from a year earlier to 304,867 TEUs. Passenger traffic was up 5.2% to 714,249 people, 81,197 of them (+31.8%) were cruise tourists.
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.
