Cargo throughput at the port of Liepaja, Latvia in January-November 2013 shrank by 34.8% compared with the same period last year, to 4,380,500 tonnes, the Liepaja Port Authority said.
Grain shipments through the port's bulk terminal dropped 38.1% to 1,627,800 tonnes, timber cargo fell by 33.2% to 487,400 tonnes, building materials – by 14,5% to 423,500 tonnes.
In the reporting period the port saw a 58.3% decline in ferrous metals to 182,400 tonnes (flat month-on-month), and a 58.5% drop in non-ferrous metals (131,800 tonnes). Handling of scrap metals plunged 89.1% to 59,800 million tonnes (the figure unchanged on last month), of coal - by 72.1% to 67.4 million tonnes, while shipments of wood pellets increased by 5.4% to 148,700 tonnes.
Container traffic grew 10% to 4,177 TEUs. Handling of rolling cargo increased by 7% to 29,478 units.
The number of ship calls was down 29% on last year's figures, to 1189
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 2012, Liepaja terminals handled 7.43 million tonnes of cargo.