Cargo traffic at the Free Port of Riga in January-November was up 6.9% compared with the same period last year, to 33,115,200 tons, the Port Authority said.
Shipments of coal rose 12.9% year-on-year to 13.614 million tons, oil product transshipments increased by 2.5% to 7.073 million tons. Handling of timber cargo fell 12.3% from last year’s numbers to 2,162 million tons, ore traffic plummeted by 80.9% to 121,200 tons, exports of pellets rose 2.8% to 952,600 tons, shipments of construction materials slumped by 88 % to 68,100, while scrap metal volume increased by 21.2% to 591,800 tons.
Port of Riga container throughput rose 19.9% from a year earlier to 334,883 TEUs. Passenger traffic was up 5.4% to 760,089 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.